Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, has asked the US court for the Northern District of Illinois, to overrule President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s objections on the release of his academic records.
Tinubu had filed an appeal against the order of the court directing the Chicago State University (CSU) to release his academic records to Abubakar.
The President had argued that he ought to have been joined in the suit since it is his personal information that is being sought. Tinubu had also argued through his lawyers that what Abubakar was doing amounted to a “fishing expedition” because the deadline for the use of fresh documents in Nigerian courts had elapsed. The court had gone on to delay the order for the release of the records.
Section 6 of the Election Judicial Proceedings Practice Directions 2022 provides that a Notice of Appeal shall be filed at the registry of the tribunal or court of appeal within 21 days in respect of a final decision, and 14 days in respect of interlocutory rulings.
However, section two of the Supreme Court Election Appeals Practice Directions 2023 stipulates that an appellant shall file in the registry of the Court of Appeal, notice and grounds of appeal, within 14 days from the date of delivery of judgment appealed against.
The presidential petition election tribunal delivered its judgment on September 6. That means Abubakar had till September 20 to file his appeal — which he did on September 18.
However, in a fresh application to the US court, dated September 27, Abubakar through his attorneys, argued that the documents he is seeking can still be used in election litigation back home in Nigeria. Abubakar is also asking the court to overrule Tinubu’s objections in their entirety.
The application read in part: “The court should overrule the objections in their entirety. If the court overrules the objections, applicant respectfully requests that it enter an order requiring production of documents no later than October 2, 2023, and the deposition scheduled no later than October 3, to allow time for transcripts to be finalized”.
Tinubu’s credentials show that he graduated from CSU in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting and management.
Recall that there have been allegations bordering on discrepancies with Tinubu’s certificate. In a previous suit filed before the US district court, Abubakar prayed that the court should subpoena Tinubu’s files domiciled with CSU.
In his fresh application, Abubakar reiterated that there are discrepancies with Tinubu’s academic records.
