President Bola Tinubu has failed to block Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, from accessing his academic records at the Chicago State University (CSU).
This is because the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has ordered the CSU to release Tinubu’s academic credentials to the former Vice President latest Tuesday, October 3, 2023.
Recall the President had filed an objection to the decision of U.S. Magistrate Judge Jefferey Gilbert, whose ruling of September 20, 2023, mandated CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records as requested by Atiku, stressing that the PDP candidate had the right to have access to the sought-after credentials.
The President appealed the decision, claiming that Atiku’s interest in his educational records constitutes an intrusion of his privacy.
Dismissing the president’s objection, the presiding judge, Nancy Maldonado, explained that the former Vice President’s interest in the sought-after discovery outweighed Tinubu’s privacy interest.
Malondo upheld the September 20 ruling of the magistrate court, noting that CSU raised no objection to Judge Gilbert’s decision that the academic record be made public.
She also ordered that CSU must complete all necessary filings regarding the release by 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
The court held that “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.
“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.”
