Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will soon present before the Supreme Court the academic records of President Bola Tinubu recently obtained from the Chicago State University (CSU), USA.
The PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, disclosed this on Tuesday, claiming that the CSU record indicated that the President presented conflicting documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Abdullahi hinted that the relevant documents would be presented before the Supreme Court to prove the PDP and Atiku’s case against Tinubu.
Atiku had filed 35 grounds of appeal at the apex court to nullify the Presidential Election Petitions Court’s judgment that affirmed Tinubu as the winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Asked if they were satisfied with the documents released by the CSU, Abdullahi said: “Yes we are; that was exactly what we requested. We have suspected and proven that we have a conflicting record about Tinubu, the president of the country, and that is why we sought reliefs from the court to see what he was issued when he graduated from the Chicago State University as he claimed in 1979.”
Speaking further, he said: “He who alleges must prove. Now that we have the document, we will tender it before the Supreme Court. So it’s now for the revered justices of the Supreme Court to see if indeed what we have said against this person can be proven, and then the necessary thing be done per the extant provisions, laws and the Electoral Act.”
Declaring that ‘the game is up,’ Abdullahi stated: “If the judiciary has any modicum of honour left in it, this is the time to prove it and if Tinubu and his people, APC have anything good for Nigeria in their entire conception, this is the time to prove it. Tinubu and the APC should apologise to Nigerians, hand over and go.”
CSU had on Monday released Tinubu’s academic records to former vice president Atiku following court order.
Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert had on September 19 granted Atiku’s request for the release of Tinubu’s academic records but the President filed a review of the order.
Tinubu’s lawyers insisted that the documents would not be relevant in Atiku’s appeal against Tinubu at the Supreme Court and asked for a review of the ruling.
However, Justice Nancy Maldonado, a federal judge, overruled Tinubu’s objections and ordered the CSU to release the president’s academic records.
In the CSU documents, which went viral late Monday night, the institution responded to Atiku’s four requests.
In response to Atiku’s first request for “A true and correct copy of any diploma for a Bachelor of Science degree issued by CSU in 1979,” the US varsity said, “The documents responsive to this request which CSU, after diligent search, has been able to locate are produced herewith and Bates labelled CSU 0001 through CSU 0007. The students’ names on these diplomas have been redacted for privacy reasons.”
On the second request for “A true and correct copy of any diploma issued by CSU in 1979 to Tinubu”, the varsity said, “CSU does not, in the ordinary course, keep copies of student diplomas, and after the diligent search cannot locate a copy of the original diploma it prepared for Mr Tinubu in 1979, hence, has no documents responsive to this request.”
Responding to the third request seeking the release of true and correct copies of the diplomas issued by CSU other than (Tinubu) contained in the same font, seal, signatures and wording, the CSU said, “The documents responsive to this request which CSU, after diligent search, has been able to locate are produced herewith and Bates labelled CSU 0008 through CSU 0010.
“The students’ names on these diplomas have been redacted for privacy reasons. The CSU is also producing Bates labelled as CSU 0011 and CSU 0012, diplomas prepared for other CSU students (with their names redacted for privacy) which match the format of the Tinubu’s replacement diploma dated June 27, 1997.”
Also, while responding to Atiku’s fourth request for “true and correct copies of any CSU documents relating to Tinubu’s that were certified by Jamar C. Orr, Esq, including with limitation, the documents in Exhibit D to the Uwais Declaration, and all communications to or from CSU concerning the certification of such documents by Jamar C. Orr, Esq, during the period August 1, 2022 to August 1, 2023’’, the CSU said, “The respondents’ documents certified by Mr. Orr are produced herewith and Bates labelled CSU 0013 through CSU 0032, CSU’s prior objection to the communication aspect of this request was sustained by the Court (see Doc. 40 at pp, 28-29 and Doc. 54 at p, 32), hence no documents responsive to that subject are being produced.”
