Tinubu can’t use court to block new deadline of October 3
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“The Court notes that at the recent emergency hearing, the possibility of a stay pending an appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was raised.
“The Court cautions President Tinubu that any request for a stay before this Court will be denied, as the Court finds any stay impracticable in light of the fast-approaching Supreme Court of Nigeria deadlines” – US Court
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Bola Tinubu cannot use the United States court to block the release of his academic records by Chicago State University (CSU) by October 3, according to the order given at the weekend by the US District Court in Northern Illinois.
Judge Nancy Maldonado ordered the release of the documents to Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) within 48 hours starting from Saturday and cautioned Tinubu not to bother applying for a stay of the order because she would reject the application.
“Given the October 5, 2023 filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Court will not extend or modify these deadlines,” she ruled, adding the only option for Tinubu is to take up such an application for a stay of execution at the US Court of Appeals.
Maldonado’s court would have been the one to stay execution of the order pending appeal, but she insisted it would not be granted for the reason given.
And the process for such an order at the US Court of Appeals cannot be completed before the October 3 deadline for the release of the documents. So Tinubu can no longer filibuster the release.
Nigeria’s Supreme Court may accept additional evidence not tendered or tendered and rejected at a lower court in “exceptional circumstances and/or at its [Supreme Court’s] discretion.”
Maldonado dismissed Tinubu’s objection to the release of his CSU credentials and gave the school until 12 noon on Sunday October 1 to release them to Atiku.
The judge affirmed fully Magistrate Jeffery Gilbert’s ruling on September 20 ordering CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records, insisting Atiku has the right to have access to them.
“For the reasons stated in the Court’s accompanying Memorandum Opinion and Order, the Court overrules President Tinubu’s objections (44] and adopts Judge Gilbert’s recommended decision [40] in full.
“The Court therefore grants Mr. Abubakar’s application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782. [1],” Maldonado ruled.
She said CSU must complete all necessary filings on the release by 5pm on Tuesday October 3.
“Respondent CSU is directed to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Requests for Production Nos. 1 through 4 (as narrowed by Judge Gilbert and adopted by the District Court in its opinion) in Mr. Abubakar’s subpoena, by 12:00 p.m. (noon) CDT, on Monday, October 2, 2023,” the Judge ruled, per reporting by Premium Times.
“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 ….
“Atiku Abubakar initiated this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782, a federal statute that allows a federal district court to order a person or entity within the district to produce documents or testimony for use in a foreign legal proceeding.
“Mr. Abubakar is a former Vice President of Nigeria and was a candidate for president in Nigeria’s February 2023 presidential election.
“Mr. Abubakar seeks an order under 28 US.C. § 1782 directing Chicago State University (CSU), which is located in this district, to produce certain documents and testimony related to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the declared winner of the February 2023 Nigerian presidential election.
“Mr. Abubakar has challenged the validity of President Tinubu’s election in Nigerian courts on a number of grounds, including a claim that President Tinubu submitted a forged diploma to the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stating that he graduated from CSU.
“Mr. Abubakar contends the fraudulent submission would have disqualified President Tinubu from participating in the election, and he therefore seeks records and testimony from CSU related to President Tinubu’s diploma, and his graduation from CSU, to support Mr. Abubakar’s challenge to the election results.”
Atiku asked for the documents to support his argument that Tinubu forged a certificate he claimed to have obtained from CSU in 1979 and submitted it to the INEC for the 2023 presidential election.
Atiku argued certificate forgery, if proven, goes to the root of Tinubu’s qualification to contest for the election.
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Related articles:
Tinubu has 2 CSU certificates and “either ‘A’ or ‘B’ is fake (if not both)”, lawyer tells US court
Admission transcript of ‘Bola A. Tinubu’ belongs to a ‘female’, CSU confirms
Tinubu says CSU records release will cause him ‘severe and irreparable harm’, appeals court ruling
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Tinubu’s CSU documents already in the public domain
The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in its judgement on September 6 rejected the same Tinubu’s CSU records Atiku presented through a witness, Mike Enahoro-Ebah, with the PEPC claiming the witness was incompetent.
Enahoro-Ebah, a Nigerian civil rights lawyer, had legally obtained the CSU documents through a US attorney subpoena in 2022.
Some of the documents obtained and presented at the PEPC by Enahoro-Ebah are exactly the same being sought by Atiku.
Documents being sought by Atiku through his counsel Angela Liu include, among others, records of Tinubu’s admission and acceptance at CSU, dates of class attendance, degrees, awards, and honours attained.
Atiku hopes to directly obtain the documents by himself and resubmit them with his appeal petition at the Supreme Court in Abuja.
Section 137 (1)(j) of the Nigerian Constitution (amended in 2010) says, “A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of president if … he has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC].”
The attorney subpoena issued in the US in 2022 led to CSU releasing the same documents which were first reported that year by West Africa Weekly (https://westafricaweekly.substack.com/p/has-bola-ahmed-tinubu-committed-perjury), a website owned by investigative journalist David Hundeyin.
Some of the discrepancies Hundeyin pointed out in the certificate issued by CSU and the one Tinubu presented to the INEC are as follows:
“A line-by-line analysis of the original certificate versus what Tinubu submitted to INEC reveals the following glaring discrepancies. First of all, both certificates are written in completely different font types. It is important to note that the certificate provided by CSU in response to the subpoena is an exact reprint of the original certificate issued in 1979.
Top of Form
“Bottom of Form
This means that any other certificate purporting to be the same one with even the slightest deviation in style, format or content, can only be a fake.
“Next, the certificate submitted to INEC has 2 grammatical errors on it. It says: ‘On the recommendation of the faculty of the college of business, and under the authority of the board of trustees of Chicago state university has conferred upon …’
“This is a meaningless and incomplete statement. What the original document provided by CSU actually says is ‘On the recommendation of the faculty of the college of business and under the authority of the board of trustees, Chicago State University has conferred upon …’
“That is a grammatically correct statement with meaningful sentence construction.
“The certificate submitted to INEC then says ‘In testimony thereof, the undersigned officers of Chicago State University have affixed their Signatures together with the seal of the University in witness thereof this Diploma is granted this twenty-second day of June A.D. 1979.’
“This is another meaningless and incorrect statement. What it should say, per the original on the left is ‘In testimony thereof, the undersigned officers of Chicago State University have affixed their Signatures together with the seal of the University. In witness thereof, this Diploma is granted this twenty-seventh day of June A.D. 1979.’
“Both documents also have clearly different logos on them.
“Once again bear in mind that the certificate obtained from CSU via subpoena is an exact reprint of the original issued certificate. This means that the logo on the left must appear in Tinubu’s certificate even if Chicago State University has changed logos 75 times since 1979.
“And then there is the layout of both certificates. At risk of excessive repetition, it must be noted once again that the certificate on the left is an exact replica of the certificate issued by Chicago State University in June 1979. Any deviation from what is on it can mean only one thing – forgery ….
“The date on [Tinubu’s] purported certificate is different to that on the reprinted certificate obtained via subpoena from Chicago State University.
“Whereas the original on the left states that the degree was awarded on June 27, 1979, the certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC states that the degree was awarded on June 22, 1979. All of this points to one clear conclusion – the ‘certificate’ on the right is a forgery.”
Court dismisses Tinubu’s objection to release of his credentials
Atiku had told the US District Court he has up till October 5 to file the documents from CSU at the Supreme Court.
Tinubu had through his lawyer disclosed to the US court last week that the release of his CSU records would cause him “severe and irreparable harm.”
His lawyer also argued “the Nigerian election proceedings and the Nigerian courts” had explicitly rejected the documents Atiku sought to obtain and tender in his case aimed at overturning the results of the 25 February presidential election.
He added Atiku’s request “is unduly intrusive because it allows Applicant (Atiku) to conduct a fishing expedition into Intervenor’s private, confidential, and protected educational records.”
Maldonado dismissed the objection and said she was only affirming Atiku’s right to have access to the CSU documents, not confirming the merit of his allegations against Tinubu or his comments on the validity of the country’s presidential election.
“In reaching this conclusion, the Court emphasises that it is expressing no view on the merits of Mr Abubakar’s underlying claims regarding President Tinubu or his graduation from CSU, or on the validity of the Nigerian election.
“Nor is the Court taking any position on what any of the documents or testimony from CSU may or may not ultimately show. The Court simply finds, on the narrow question before it, that Mr Abubakar is entitled to the production of documents and testimony that he seeks from CSU,” the Judge ruled.
Tinubu can no longer seek order of stay of execution
“Given the October 5, 2023 filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Court will not extend or modify these deadlines,” Maldonado stressed.
“Further, the Court notes that at the recent emergency hearing, the possibility of a stay pending an appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was raised.
“The Court cautions President Tinubu that any request for a stay before this Court will be denied, as the Court finds any stay impracticable in light of the fast-approaching Supreme Court of Nigeria deadlines.
“President Tinubu is, of course, free to request a stay directly from the Seventh Circuit should he file any appeal. Judgment is entered in favour of Atiku Abubakar.”
Tinubu asks US court to stop release of CSU transcript showing “his” gender
Tinubu had also pleaded with the District Court last week to order CSU to protect his privileged information – such as admission records, transcripts, and gender – and release only his certificate to Atiku.
“The most critical fact has already been clearly and unequivocally established” by CSU, Tinubu’s lawyer Christopher Carmichael insisted before District Judge Nancy Maldonado on September 25.
However, the core bone of contention in Atiku’s allegation is that the President used the transcript of a “female” called “Bola A. Tinubu” from Southwest College Chicago to gain admission into CSU in 1977.
And Tinubu’s Social Media Aide Dada Olusegun posted on X (Twitter) about two weeks ago a transcript from Southwest College Chicago which he claimed belongs to the President, but the gender column shows the owner is “F” – that is, “female”.
Document posted on Twitter by Tinubu Media Aide Olusegun Dada showing the Southwest College transcript Tinubu used for CSU admission belongs to a female
Atiku swore last week to resist Tinubu’s legal tactics to block or run down the clock over the release of his CSU records, saying it is obvious the man is hiding something from fellow citizens.
“We are aware Tinubu’s counsel filed a motion on Monday [September 25] praying the US court to order Chicago State University to release only the president’s certificate,” Atiku said through his Media Aide Phrank Shaibu.
“We are wondering why a man will demand they conceal his gender and other little details in his academic transcript. But we (Atiku’s legal team) will respond to them in the next 48 hours. The judgment will be entered by Wednesday or Thursday.”