In the Northern District of Illinois, a United States District Court has approved the request by Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, to obtain President Bola Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University.
US Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert issued a ruling on Tuesday, instructing Chicago State University to provide Atiku Abubakar with all pertinent, non-privileged documents within a two-day timeframe.
The court’s decision acknowledged the arguments presented by Tinubu’s legal team against waiving their client’s privacy privileges. It emphasized that only non-privileged documents should be disclosed as part of this legal process.
“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,” Judge Gilbert ruled.
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Atiku had initiated this legal action to compel the university to release Tinubu’s academic records.
Additionally, following the affirmation of Tinubu’s victory by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal just two weeks ago, Atiku and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, have submitted 86 grounds of appeal to the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the tribunal’s judgment.
They contend that the verdict was erroneous. Atiku’s appeal is based on 35 grounds, including objections to the tribunal’s findings on electronic result transmission, Federal Capital Territory votes, and other critical aspects of the case.
Meanwhile, Peter Obi’s appeal raises objections on 51 grounds regarding the September 6 judgment.