A United States court’s Judge Nancy Maldonado accepted to postpone a directive directing Chicago State University to give the legal team for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar access to President Bola Tinubu’s academic records.
The president’s attorneys filed an emergency motion to delay the implementation of the self-effectuating order that compelled CSU to abide by Atiku’s subpoenas until Monday (September 25, 2023) at the hearing, which took place late Thursday night (September 21, 2023).
On Tuesday (September 19, 2023), Jeffrey Gilbert gave Tinubu’s alma institution two days to provide Atiku with all pertinent, non-privileged documents.
The data that Atiku, the candidate for the People’s Democratic Party, requested through his attorney, Angela Liu, included details about the former governor of Lagos State’s enrollment, acceptance at the university, dates of attendance, and degrees, honors, and awards received while he was a student.
The President’s legal team argued that a district court should examine Gilbert’s prior judgment, nevertheless.
Babatunde Ogala, the Coordinator of Tinubu’s Presidential Legal Team, explained to The PUNCH over the phone from the United States that their request was for a review and not an appeal, as had been reported in the media.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria highlighted that the US magistrate could only make recommendations and lacked the authority to require the university to provide non-privileged information in order to prove his point.
The application for a review and a postponement of the ruling until Monday was granted by the US district judge.
Maldonado stated during the emergency hearing that she was aware of the Nigerian legal time limits and promised to make a decision as soon as possible.
She observed,
“I will have a busy weekend. The issue is about processes and rules. I am a stickler for rules; that’s why I am a judge. This case is quite intricate. I understand the significance. Getting it right is more crucial to me than anything else.”
