US Court Orders Release Tinubu’s Academic Records

 Barely two weeks after the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory, a United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois has granted the request made by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, for the release of President Bola Tinubu’s academic records.

In a ruling delivered by US Magistrate, Judge Jeffrey Gilbert on Tuesday, the court ordered Chicago State University to provide “all relevant and non-privileged documents” to Atiku Abubakar within two days.

The ruling acknowledged Tinubu’s lawyers’ argument against lifting their client’s privacy privilege and clarified that only “non-privileged documents” should be produced.

“This matter is before the Court on Atiku Abubakar’s Application Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 for an Order Directing Discovery from Chicago State University for Use in a Foreign Proceeding (“Application”) [ECF No. 1]. For the reasons discussed below, the Application is granted,” Gilbert said.

Atiku had initiated the legal action seeking an order to compel the university to release Tinubu’s academic records.

After the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal affirmed Tinubu’s victory, Atiku and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, filed 86 grounds of appeal at the Supreme Court to nullify the judgment.