By Olusegun Olanrewaju

A letter/document from a United States-based court on Wednesday has apparently thrown up a controversy as to the request of former Nigerian vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, for the credentials of President Bola Tinubu.

While the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted to what it called the decision of the Chicago State University in the USA to release the credentials of President Tinubu, a letter signed by the counsel for the respondent,  Michael Hayes, of Husch Blackwell LLP, S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 2200, Chicago Illinois, raised other matters pertaining to the release of the Atiku-demanded documents.
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the February 15, 2023 elections, had on August 2, 2023, approached the Chicago State’s district court for the Northern District of Illinois to issue a subpoena for the Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s school records, citing long-standing controversies around the Nigerian president’s background.

In his subpoena, Atiku told the court he was seeking the documents as part of discovery to strengthen his legal challenge against the declaration of Tinubu as Nigeria’s president.

The PDP, in a post on its verified account on X, noted that the Chicago State University, in response to the application filed by Atiku, has agreed to release the credentials of Tinubu.

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The opposition party wrote, “This is now official. The Chicago State University in the United States of America, in response to the application filed by the @OfficialPDPNig and its Presidential Candidate in the February 25, 2023 election @Atiku, has agreed to release the credentials of Bola A. Tinubu.
“Nigerians and members of the international community are eagerly waiting for this information as this will form a greater part of the decision-making process of the petition before the court.”

But yesterday, a document entitled, “In the United States District Court Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, Case No. :23.cv-0599, Judge Makionado and Magistrate Judge Gilbert, in response to the application of Atiku to the respondent (Chicago State University) pursuant to 28 USC S1782, granted an order on August 9, 2023, where Tinubu intervened to oppose Atiku’s presentation and request.

The document said expressly that “Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president, graduated from the university in 1979.”

It added, “One of his political opponents is seeking information on the circumstances of a certain diploma issued from the university asserting that such discovery is pertinent to a Nigerian proceeding.

“The university defers to Tinubu on privacy issues implicated by Atiku’s application. For example, Abubakar’s document subpoena Request No. 7 seeks information on diplomas issued by the university for a 44-year period (1975 to the present and Abubakar’s deposition subpoena Tip No. 7 seeks information on the employment status and reason for the departure of a former employee in the university’s General Counsel’s Office.

“Following this court’s ruling on the application, should any discovery be permitted, the university will meet and confer promptly, and in good faith with Abubakar’s universal notes to address all the University’s concerns.

Reacting to the application, the university states that the American-based institution asked the court to direct “only limited and targeted discovery” of the information sought by Atiku and wondered why Tinubu’s academic records “could have any bearing on a 2023 election challenge in a foreign country”.

It also argued that some requests in the application are “clearly inappropriate”, adding that the applicant is also seeking the employment details of one of his former employees.