September 20, (THEWILL) – A United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) to release the academic records of President Bola Tinubu.
The presiding magistrate of the Court, Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, gave the order in a ruling on Tuesday.
Judge Gilbert ordered the CSU to produce “all relevant and non-privileged documents” to Abubakar Atiku, the plaintiff, within two days.
THEWILL reports that Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 elections in Nigeria, had approached the Court, seeking details of Tinubu’s academic records at the CSU.
Atiku had subpoenaed the CSU to make Tinubu’s academic records available for his access, believing that such discoveries would shed more light on the controversies surrounding the President’s academic records.
Tinubu’s lawyers have argued that their client is not willing to lift his privacy privilege.
The CSU, on Friday, September 15, had said United States’ federal law – Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), prevents it from providing information about President Bola Tinubu’s academic record without consent or an order of a court.
While it insisted that the FERPA protects the privacy of student records and limits what an institution can release, the CSU, however, confirmed, in a statement to CBS, that President Tinubu attended the university and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree.
On Tuesday, Atiku approached the Supreme Court, seeking to set aside the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which, on September 6, affirmed Tinubu’s election.
Atiku, in the Notice of Appeal predicated on 35 grounds, insisted that the tribunal in the judgment delivered by Justice Haruna Tsammani committed grave error and miscarriage of justice in its findings and conclusion in the petition challenging the declaration of Tinubu as President by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He contended that President Tinubu was ineligible to contest the 2023 General Elections, citing his academic records.
