By Daniel Edu
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has issued a ruling in favor of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ordering the Chicago State University (CSU) to release President Tinubu’s academic records to Atiku by Monday, October 2.
CSU did not raise any objections to Judge Jeffery Gilbert’s decision to make the academic records public.
The court emphasized that any intrusion into Tinubu’s privacy interests regarding his educational records is outweighed by Atiku’s interest in obtaining this information.
Maldonado overruled Tinubu’s objections to Gilbert’s recommended ruling and fully adopted the ruling.
According to the memorandum opinion and order, “Atiku’s application is therefore granted. In light of the pending Supreme Court of Nigeria deadline, represented to the Court as October 5, 2023, and based on CSU’s representations that it is ready to comply with the discovery requests and produce a witness, the Court sets an expedited schedule for the completion of discovery. Respondent CSU is directed to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents.
“The Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee must be completed by 5:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. Given the October 5, 2023, filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Court will not extend or modify these deadlines.”
