Why You Should Delay The Release Of My Academic Records To Atiku – Tinubu Tells U.S. Court

Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu has moved to stop the order of a federal court in Chicago, U.S.A, on the Chicago State University (CSU), to release his academic records to Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the PDP who is accusing him of certificate forgery.

ALL FACTS NEWSPAPER (AFNEWS), had reported that the judge, Jeffrey Gilbert of the US District Court for Northern District of Illinois, ordered the CSU to “produce all relevant and non-privileged documents within two days.”

Documents sought by Atiku through his counsel, Angela Liu, include the record of admission and acceptance at the university, dates of attendance including degrees, awards, and honours attained by Tinubu at the university, among others.

Filing an emergency motion on Thursday, Tinubu through his counsels seeks to stop the Chicago State University, United States, from releasing his academic record. He asked for a delay in the release till at least next week Monday.

The motion filed by Christopher Carmichael, titled, ‘Emergency motion to delay dis-positive ruling number 23CV5099’ signed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division read in part;

“Intervenor asks this court to enter an immediate order delaying the effect of the magistrate’s order, at least until Monday, September 25, 2023, so the court may fully consider both the scope of the magistrate’s authority to issue the order without review, and the issue of whether the magistrate’s order was a correct application of the law to the facts presented.’’

In support of his motion, Tinubu said his request was based on the fact that the “Applicant (Atiku) is challenging an election that occurred in Nigeria in February 2023. Applicant filed his action under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 on August 2, 2023, after dismissing a similar Illinois State court action that was originally filed July 11, 2023.’’

“The limited time available is therefore due to the applicant’s decision to seek information utilising section 1782 six months after the election concluded. This court referred the applicant’s request to issue discovery to the magistrate. (Dkts. 6 & 7.)”

According to Tinubu’s legal representative, he was unaware until the issuance of the ruling directing CSU to release his records to Atiku.

“Considering the nature of applications for discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782, the Ninth Circuit concluded a magistrate may only report and recommend to a district judge, in CPC Patent Technologies PTY Ltd. v. Apple, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held” he added.

Tinubu’s emergency motion was electronically filed with the Clerk of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois through the Case Management/Electronic Case File.

Tinubu’s credentials indicated that he graduated from CSU in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Accounting and Management, but there have been allegations of discrepancies with his academic record.

But justifying his decision to obtain the President’s record, Atiku said unless a clarification was made, it would be difficult for Nigerians to understand the academic journey of the former Lagos State governor.

In response to an earlier order by the court that he should make a formal filing on why his records should not be released, Tinubu claimed a clerical error was responsible for the discrepancies on the certificate issued to him by the university.

According to filings by Tinubu’s lawyers, Oluwole Afolabi and Christopher Carmichael, an unidentified clerk of the university made the error about the date the school stated on his recently-issued certificate, thereby creating “the appearance of differences.”