By Oluwatosin Maliki
A request was filed by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar to a United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting in Chicago, which was granted, the court ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) to hand over all records relating to Nigeria’s president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s studentship within two days.
On Tuesday, Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, a US magistrate, gave his pronouncement, ordering CSU to produce “all relevant and non-privileged documents” to Abubakar Atiku, the plaintiff, within two days.
“This matter is before the Court on Atiku Abubakar’s Application Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 for an Order Directing Discovery from Chicago State University for Use in a Foreign Proceeding (“Application”) [ECF No. 1]. For the reasons discussed below, the Application is granted,” the judge ruled.
According to Tinubu’s lawyers, they have argued that their client is not willing to lift his privacy privilege, with the ruling also recognizing this by using the term ‘non-privileged documents”.
Recall, that CSU had released a statement few weeks ago exonerating Tinubu, while confirming that he graduated from the school. Although, the school cited that it is not privileged to release it’s past student records unless order by a court.
Subsequently, Atiku had approached the Chicago court seeking an order that will compel the university to release Tinubu’s records.
President Tinubu’s credentials indicated that he graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, there have been allegations regarding discrepancies in the President’s certificate.