Atiku requests that the court overturn Tinubu’s opposition to the academic records.

Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s nominee for president, has submitted a new application asking the US Court to reject President Bola Tinubu’s request to prevent Chicago State University from disclosing his (Tinubu’s) academic record.

According to The PUNCH, Atiku had already obtained an order from a US magistrate for CSU to provide Tinubu’s academic records to his legal team.

Last Monday, Tinubu’s alma mater was required by the magistrate, Jeffrey Gilbert, to deliver all pertinent, non-privileged documents to Atiku’s legal team within two days.

Atiku is currently contesting Tinubu’s declaration as the victor of the presidential election held on February 25.

The Nigerian Supreme Court is now hearing the case.

Tinubu’s record of entrance and acceptance at the Chicago State University, dates of attendance, as well as the degrees, accolades, and honors Tinubu received from the CSU, are among the documents requested by the PDP candidate through his attorney, Angela Liu.

However, when the magistrate’s deadline drew nearer, Tinubu’s attorneys petitioned the US high court, arguing that the magistrate’s earlier judgment needed to be reviewed by a district judge.

The US district court ultimately agreed to the request for a review and a postponement of the magistrate’s order until Monday.

Oluwole Afolabi, Tinubu’s attorney in New York, put up two arguments in his motion.

First, contrary to Atiku’s assertion, his academic credentials are not relevant to Nigerian courts since “the Nigerian election proceedings and the Nigerian courts have explicitly been unreceptive to the discovery.”

His second reason is that Atiku’s request “is unduly intrusive because it allows the applicant (Atiku) to conduct a fishing expedition into the intervenor’s private, confidential, and protected educational records.”

But Atiku, in a fresh response filed on Wednesday, in Chicago, Illinois, urged the court to overrule Tinubu’s request in its entirety.

Atiku’s counsel, Angela Liu, appealed that “If the court overrules the objections, the applicant respectfully requests that it enter an order requiring production of documents no later than October 2, 2023, and the deposition scheduled no later than October 3, to allow time for transcripts to be finalised, and the discovery obtained to be sent to Nigeria (which is six hours ahead) by October 4, so that such evidence may, in turn, be filed with the Supreme Court by October 5, which is when applicant’s Nigerian counsel intend to submit any new evidence to the Supreme Court.”

Atiku’s lawyer explained that contrary to Tinubu’s “inflated rhetoric”, he is not seeking “to conduct a fishing expedition into Tinubu’s private, confidential, and protected educational records.”

The former vice president stated that he wants to investigate the legitimacy and provenance of 12 pages of documents, including two quite different diplomas, that claim to be from Colorado State University.

According to Atiku, there are inconsistencies between the data in the CSU documents and the affidavit Tinubu provided to INEC.

“If, as the intervenor asserts, he graduated from CSU in 1979 and the CSU documents are authentic copies issued, there is no reason why he should oppose the limited discovery the applicant seeks.”

Atiku’s legal team argued that the fact that the Nigerian Electoral Act specifically allows for the submission of new evidence to the Supreme Court in exceptional circumstances demonstrates its receptivity to the evidence sought.

The former vice president clarified that is not seeking the disclosure of Tinubu’s educational documents; he is seeking to authenticate documents that are already in the public record, adding that “Judge Gilbert’s Order may only be reviewed for clear error, even if the Court determines to the objections should nonetheless be overruled in their entirety.”