President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, filed an emergency request to prevent the release of his academic records to Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar by Chicago State University in the United States.
In order to give the CSU more time to comply with Atiku’s subpoenas, Tinubu is asking for a postponement in the self-effectuating order’s enforcement until Monday.
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On Tuesday, Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that Tinubu’s alma mater had two days to give the applicant, Atiku, access to all pertinent and non-privileged records.
The PDP candidate is requesting documents through his attorney, Angela Liu, including Tinubu’s academic record from the university, dates of attendance, and the degrees, honours, and honours he received there, among other things.
But in a new twist on Thursday, the counsel to the former Lagos State governor, Christopher Carmichael, filed an emergency motion titled, ‘Emergency motion to delay dispositive ruling number 23CV5099’ signed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.
The motion read in part “Intervenor asks this court to enter an immediate order delaying the effect of the magistrate’s order, at least until Monday, September 25, 2023, so the court may fully consider both the scope of the magistrate’s authority to issue the order without review, and the issue of whether the magistrate’s order was a correct application of the law to the facts presented.’’
In support of his motion, Tinubu said his request was based on the fact that the “Applicant (Atiku) is challenging an election that occurred in Nigeria in February 2023. Applicant filed his action under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 on August 2, 2023, after dismissing a similar Illinois State court action that was originally filed July 11, 2023.’’
“The limited time available is therefore due to the applicant’s decision to seek information utilising section 1782 six months after the election concluded. This court referred the applicant’s request to issue discovery to the magistrate. (Dkts. 6 & 7.)”
Tinubu’s legal team argued that he was unaware until the issuance of the ruling directing CSU to release his records to Atiku that the magistrate intended to issue a binding ruling requiring compliance without any action by the court.
The lawyer further argued that “Considering the nature of applications for discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782, the Ninth Circuit concluded a magistrate may only report and recommend to a district judge, in CPC Patent Technologies PTY Ltd. v. Apple, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held.”
