The United States District Court for Northern District of Illinois has ordered the Chicago State University to release the full academic records of President Bola Tinubu.
In what is a major win for Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, Judge Nancy Maldonado ordered the CSU to release all records of the current Nigerian President including all relevant and non-privileged documents, such as Tinubu’s admission records, transcripts, and any other documents related to his education at CSU.
Atiku sought the court to compel CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records with the argument that the records were necessary for his case in Nigeria, wherein he is challenging Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.
CSU initially resisted Abubakar’s request, arguing that it was bound by Nigerian law, which protects the privacy of student records.
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However, Judge Maldonado ruled that US law takes precedence in this case.
The judge however, failed to rule on the authenticity of the certificates presented by Tinubu to contest the 2023 presidential election.
The judge said:” The Court therefore finds that the “for use in” statutory requirement under § 1782 is satisfied.
” The Court reiterates, as mentioned at the outset, that in reaching this finding the Court is not taking a position on the merits of any of Mr. Abubakar’s underlying claims on the authenticity of the diploma submitted to the INEC, President Tinubu’s education and graduation, or the truth of what is or is not shown in any other CSU documents that have been produced in the Nigerian proceedings.
“Nor should the Court’s opinion be read as taking any position on any of the broader claims as to the validity of the election or what the documents and discovery from CSU might or might not show.
” The Court simply finds that Mr. Abubakar has cleared the relatively low hurdle of showing that the documents he seeks could be relevant to his claims (either proving them or disproving them) and could potentially be presented to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. “
Since August 2, 2023, Atiku has been in the US Court to OBTAIN records from the Chicago State University(CSU) to upturn Tinubu’s victory.
But on September 6, the Presidential Election Court dismissed his application and upheld Tinubu’s victory.
