US Court Rejects Tinubu’s Bid to Block Chicago State University from Releasing His Records to Atiku

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2022 election, has won a legal battle to obtain the academic records of President Bola Tinubu from Chicago State University (CSU).

President Tinubu had filed an emergency application to prevent the university from disclosing his records to Mr Abubakar, who is challenging his election victory at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

However, Judge Nancy Maldonado of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago dismissed President Tinubu’s application and upheld the decision of a lower federal magistrate judge on September 19.

She ordered CSU to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Mr Abubakar’s subpoena by 12:00 p.m. Monday and also make its officials available for deposition to authenticate the documents by 5:00 p.m. on the same day.

“The Court overrules President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling, and therefore adopts the ruling in full. Mr Abubakar’s application is therefore granted,” the judge ruled.

“In light of the pending Supreme Court of Nigeria deadline, represented to the court as October 5, 2023, and based on CSU’s representations that it is ready to comply with the discovery requests and produce a witness, the court sets an expedited schedule for completion of discovery.”

The judge also said that any attempt by President Tinubu to appeal the judgement in the district would no longer be tolerated as Mr Abubakar must transfer the collected evidence to the Nigerian Supreme Court for use in an ongoing election petition case by October 5.

“Given the October 5, 2023, filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Court will not extend or modify these deadlines,” she added.

The judge, however, said President Tinubu is free to file his appeal directly before the Seventh Circuit, which is the main appellate court overseeing Illinois and nearby states, an attempt that would likely prove daunting given the tight window for compliance by CSU.

The ruling marks a major blow to President Tinubu and a huge victory for Mr Abubakar, who has been seeking the records to establish that President Tinubakr presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission when he submitted his application to run for president in June 2022.

Section 137 (1)(j) of the Nigerian Constitution (amended in 2010) specifically stated that no one would be legitimately elected president of Nigeria if the person “has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

Prior to the ruling late Saturday night, Judge Maldonado had acknowledged the significant public interest dimension of the case, saying it would cause her to expedite justice for all parties.

The president did not deny the charges that the certificate was forged, especially as it was purportedly signed by administrators who were not even at the school when he graduated in 1979, but only insisted, alongside the school, that he attended and graduated.

He also said releasing the documents with deposition would cause him severe harm because they were private to him and would not be admissible in the ongoing petition against him in Nigeria, an argument that further fueled nationwide concern about what the president might have been hiding about himself from Nigerians.

The CSU said it would state under oath that President Tinubu attended, but it won’t be able to certify the authenticity of the certificate he paraded in Nigeria under oath.

Mr Abubakar’s lawyers would now be able to test the school’s claims, alongside President Tinubu’s, during tomorrow’s records release and cross-examination.

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