Chicago State University in the United States of America has fulfilled the court order to provide former Vice President Atiku Abubakar with President Bola Tinubu‘s academic records. The university complied with the court’s directive from the United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois.
In response to President Tinubu’s objections, a U.S. district judge ruled in favor of releasing Tinubu’s academic records. The judge stated, “For the reasons outlined, the court dismisses President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling and fully adopts the ruling.”
As a result, Mr. Atiku’s application was granted. Given the impending deadline set by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which is represented as October 5, 2023, and considering CSU’s readiness to comply with discovery requests and provide a witness, the court has established an expedited schedule for completing the discovery process.
Also Read: Chicago Certificate Controversy: Privacy Law Can’t Block Academic Records Release – Atiku to Tinubu
The court directed CSU to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Requests for Production. 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. The court emphasized that these deadlines will not be extended or modified, given the impending filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria on October 5, 2023.
In the documents released by CSU, which became widely known on Monday night, the university responded to Atiku’s four requests.
Regarding Atiku’s request for “A true and correct copy of any diploma issued by CSU in 1979 to Mr. Tinubu,” the U.S. university explained, “CSU does not typically retain copies of student diplomas, and despite an exhaustive search, no copy of the original diploma prepared for Mr. Tinubu in 1979 could be located. Therefore, there are no documents available in response to this request.”
Atiku intends to utilize the CSU academic records in his appeal before the Supreme Court, where he is contesting Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election held on February 25. However, Tinubu’s legal team has argued that these documents would hold no significance in the Supreme Court proceedings.
