By Milcah Tanimu

The United States District Court in Northern District of Illinois has ruled in favor of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and ordered the Chicago State University to release President Bola Tinubu’s academic records by Monday (today).

However, Tinubu’s legal team insists that the documents would not be relevant in Atiku’s appeal against Tinubu at the Supreme Court.

Atiku had earlier secured an order from a US magistrate for CSU to make Tinubu’s academic records available to his legal team. The magistrate, Jeffrey Gilbert, had ordered Tinubu’s alma mater to provide all relevant and non-privileged documents to Atiku’s legal team within two days.

The documents sought by Atiku’s legal team include Tinubu’s record of admission and acceptance at the Chicago State University, dates of attendance, as well as the degrees, awards, and honors obtained by Tinubu from CSU.

As the deadline given by the magistrate drew nearer, Tinubu’s lawyers approached the US high court, arguing that the earlier decision by the magistrate needed to be reviewed by a district judge. The request for a review and delay of the magistrate’s order till Monday was eventually granted by the US district judge.

Tinubu’s lawyers cited two reasons for their application. First, they argued that Tinubu’s academic records are not useful in Nigerian courts, and second, they claimed that Atiku’s request was unduly intrusive into Tinubu’s private, confidential, and protected educational records.

In response, Atiku charged the court to overrule Tinubu’s request entirely. In a fresh judgment obtained, the court noted that CSU did not object to Judge Jeffrey Gilbert’s decision that the academic records be made public. The court held that Atiku’s interest outweighs any intrusion on Tinubu’s privacy interests in his educational records.

The judge overruled Tinubu’s objections to the ruling by the magistrate ordering CSU to make his academic records available to Atiku.

The court granted Atiku’s application and set an expedited schedule for the completion of discovery. Respondent CSU is directed to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to requests for production.

However, the judge stressed that his verdict “expresses no view on the merits of Mr. Abubakar’s underlying claims regarding President Tinubu or his graduation from CSU, or on the validity of the Nigerian election.”

Reacting to the verdict, a member of the PDP National Executive Council described President Tinubu’s appeal as unnecessary and believes that the US judgment will reinforce Atiku’s appeal before the Supreme Court.

Efforts to reach the spokesman for the All Progressives Congress were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, one of the President’s attorneys downplayed the importance of his academic documents, stating that they would be of no use in Atiku’s Supreme Court appeal in Nigeria. He cited the Electoral Act, which does not allow for the introduction of new evidence on appeal.