President Bola Tinubu has lodged a comprehensive objection to a US court order mandating Chicago State University to disclose his academic records to his primary political rival, Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the February 25 presidential election.
Tinubu’s legal team contends that his academic records hold no relevance within Nigerian courts, as “Nigerian election proceedings and courts have consistently shown resistance to such discovery.” They also argue that Atiku’s request is overly intrusive and that the court should overturn the previous order, citing previous instances where his political opponents illicitly acquired his academic records to attack him.
“The court should reject this assertion as the discovery cannot be utilized in a foreign proceeding due to the Nigerian Election Court’s decision, which demonstrates the foreign court’s unwillingness to entertain such discovery,” the objection stated.
Atiku had submitted an application to a US district court on August 2, 2023, seeking access to Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University. Atiku’s argument revolved around the emergence of a second Chicago State University diploma dated June 27, 1979, under the name ‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu,’ which displayed discrepancies in font, punctuation, seal, and signatures compared to the June 22, 1979 diploma. Atiku aimed to authenticate these documents to ascertain the authenticity of the June 22, 1979 diploma, which Tinubu had submitted to the INEC before the Nigerian presidential election in February 2023.
Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert ordered the university to release the requested documents to Atiku within two days, effective September 19. Subsequently, Tinubu’s legal team approached a district judge to suspend the order, allowing them to present a more detailed challenge.
On September 21, District Judge Nancy Maldonado agreed to postpone the order compelling Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s academic records. Following this approval, Tinubu’s legal team filed their objection on Monday.
In their objection, Tinubu’s lawyers argued that the magistrate judge had granted Atiku’s application despite Atiku being prohibited from using the discovery in a foreign proceeding. They also contended that the magistrate judge had erroneously expanded the scope of the order to include “other educational documents,” beyond the CSU diploma mentioned in Atiku’s Nigerian court case.
Tinubu emphasized that allowing discovery beyond the diploma could harm him, as his records had been illegally obtained in the past and had been used against him.
Tinubu’s lawyers characterized Atiku’s application as nothing more than “opposition research on a political opponent.”
