U.S. judge delays release of Chicago university records to Atiku after Tinubu plea

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has placed an immediate stay on the release of President Bola Tinubu’s university records after he pleaded severe and irreparable harm to his life.

In a publication sighted on Peoples Gazzette, Tinubu, told Judge Nancy Maldonado that the September 6 order of Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, should be delayed.

The judge agreed and granted a stay until further argument on the matter.

Ms Maldonado said; "This needs to be handled with care."

The judge also gave Tinubu’s lawyers until Monday to file a full brief on the matter before the court.

Atiku Abubakar’s lawyers on their part said they would reply to the brief by 11:00 p.m. on the same day.

“I may ultimately adopt the magistrate’s recommendation and allow the discovery to go forward, or I can ask all parties to file briefs afresh,” the judge added.

At issue has been the subpoena application filed by Mr Abubakar seeking to obtain records of Mr Tinubu at Chicago State University, following widespread inconsistencies with the Nigerian president’s academic records already in the public domain.

Recall that Abubakar of the PDP filed a subpoena application seeking to obtain academic records of Tinubu at the Chicago State University with the aim of nullifying his victory as per the constitutional section that disqualifies a candidate who submitted a forged certificate to the electoral office INEC.

This comes as a result of the widespread inconsistencies with Tinubu’s academic records.

On Tuesday, September 19, the US judge Gilbert ordered the production of varsity to produce all documents as well as deposition of the school’s administrators to Atiku Abubakar.

The Chicago State University however said Tinubu attended and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the institution. However, they have also said they couldn’t authenticate his certificate under oath because they couldn’t tell where he found it.

Atiku intends to file the academic records before the Supreme Court as part of his appeal against the tribunal verdict that affirmed Tinubu’s victory is facing a hindrance as Tinubu argued that the documents should not be released to Abubakar.

However, Tinubu claims should the records be released it would cause him “Severe and irreparable harm”.