In accordance with a court ruling from the United States, the Chicago State University (CSU) has at last given President Bola Tinubu’s political rival, Atiku Abubakar, access to his academic records.
The documents were requested by Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential candidate in Nigeria’s 25 February election, in support of his claim that Mr. Tinubu had forged his CSU certificate. In the lawsuit Atiku filed to contest Mr. Tinubu’s election, the presidential election court of Nigeria dismissed several claims, including the one of forgery.
Despite the court’s decision, Atiku persisted with his petition in the US court in an effort to get official records that would support his claim and maybe be used in his appeal before the Nigerian Supreme Court.
The university provided copies of certificates with names masked granted to other people around the same time the Nigerian president graduated from the school in 1979, as well as a cache of documents related to Mr. Tinubu’s study at the institution, to Atiku’s legal team on Monday.
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It also sent Mr. Tinubu’s admission records and a letter dated June 27, 2022, verifying that he majored in accounting while attending the university from August 1977 to June 1979. According to the letter, Mr. Tinubu received his bachelor’s degree in business administration with honors on June 22, 1979.
Compliance: Chicago University confirms Tinubu’s certificate
The institution confirmed it could meet three of Atiku’s four requirements in a deposition outlining its adherence to the court ruling.
The university stated in response to one of the requests it granted that, “after diligent search,” it was able to track down and produce seven separate certificates for the Bachelor of Science degree it awarded in 1979.
According to reports, Atiku wanted to compare and contrast the documents with those Mr. Tinubu had given for the 2023 presidential race.
Additionally, the university provided Mr. Tinubu-related materials that had been verified by Jamar C. Orr, a lawyer who works for CSU, to Atiku’s team.
After “diligent search,” the institution dug up copies of three other diplomas awarded to students other than Mr. Tinubu in 1979.Read also: How to Hide Photos on iPhone
Battle between Tinubu and Atiku
In order to support his case that Mr. Tinubu falsified a graduation that he claimed to have gotten from CSU in 1979 and submitted to Nigeria’s electoral agency, INEC, for the 2023 presidential election, Atiku had requested the documents for possible use in Nigerian courts.
However, the documents produced by CSU prove that Mr. Tinubu did indeed graduate from CSU in 1979, despite the fact that commentators claim the documents generated more issues.
Atiku had contended that Mr. Tinubu’s eligibility to run in the most recent presidential election was directly related to the validity of the documents he had provided.
Atiku hopes to reintroduce the matter supported by the CSU documents in his appeal, which he is pursuing against the election court’s decision at the Nigerian Supreme Court, despite the fact that he lost his case against Mr. Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Court, which delivered its ruling in early September.
Atiku had informed the US district court that he had until October 5 to submit the CSU documents against Mr. Tinubu to the Nigerian Supreme Court.
Mr. Tinubu argued that “the Nigerian election proceedings and the Nigerian courts” had specifically rejected the records that Atiku sought to receive and offer in his case intended to reverse the results of the 25 February presidential election. He was opposed to the materials being released to Atiku.
Nevertheless, Ms. Maldonado on Saturday rejected Mr. Tinubu’s protest, claiming that she was merely reaffirming Atiku’s right to examine the CSU documents and not endorsing the truth of his accusations against the Nigerian president or his remarks regarding the legitimacy of the country’s presidential election.
“In coming to this decision, the Court emphasizes that it is not taking a position on the validity of the Nigerian election or on the merits of Mr. Abubakar’s underlying claims about President Tinubu or his graduation from CSU.