President Bola Tinubu’s academic records have been released to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar by Chicago State University (CSU) in the United States of America.
The materials were disclosed to Atiku on Monday in accordance with a court order from the Northern District of Illinois.
A US district judge dismissed the President’s objection to requiring the CSU to divulge Tinubu’s academic record.
The judge ruled: “For the foregoing reasons, the court overrules President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling, and therefore, adopts the ruling in full.
“Mr Atiku’s Application is, therefore, granted. 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.
“Respondent CSU is directed to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Requests for Production Nos. The Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee must be completed by 5:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 3, 2023.
“Given the October 5, 2023, filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the court will not extend or modify these deadlines.”
The CSU responded to Atiku’s four requests in documents that went public late Monday night.
Responding to Atiku’s request for “A true and correct copy of any diploma issued by CSU in 1979 to Mr Tinubu,” the US varsity said: “CSU does not, in the ordinary course, keep copies of student diplomas, and after the diligent search cannot locate a copy of the original diploma it prepared for Mr Tinubu in 1979, hence, has no documents responsive to this request.”
Atiku hopes to exploit his CSU academic record in his Supreme Court petition against Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.
However, Tinubu’s legal team has maintained that the records would be useless in court.
