Atiku has requested the court to overturn Tinubu’s objection regarding his academic record.

  • Post category:Politics

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has filed a new motion asking the United States Court to reject President Bola Tinubu’s request to prevent Chicago State University from disclosing Tinubu’s academic records.

Earlier, Atiku had obtained an order from a US magistrate directing CSU to provide Tinubu’s academic records to his legal team. The magistrate, Jeffrey Gilbert, had instructed CSU to provide relevant documents within two days.

Atiku is contesting Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election, and the matter is currently before the Supreme Court in Nigeria.

Tinubu’s lawyers had approached the US high court to review the magistrate’s decision and postpone the deadline, arguing that the academic records were not useful in Nigerian courts and that Atiku’s request was overly intrusive.

In response, Atiku filed a fresh motion urging the court to reject Tinubu’s request entirely. Atiku’s counsel, Angela Liu, requested that if the court overruled the objections, documents should be produced by October 2, 2023, and the deposition scheduled by October 3. This would allow time for transcripts to be finalized and the discovery obtained to be sent to Nigeria by October 4, in order to be filed with the Supreme Court by October 5.

Atiku’s legal team clarified that they are not seeking Tinubu’s confidential educational records but are aiming to authenticate documents already in the public record. They argued that the Nigerian Electoral Act allows for the submission of new evidence to the Supreme Court in exceptional circumstances, demonstrating its receptivity to the evidence sought.

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