SAHARA REPORTERS
The Chicago State University, United States of America has released the academic records of President Bola Tinubu to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who is also the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate.
The CSU released the documents to Atiku on Monday in compliance with the order of a United States District Court in Northern District of Illinois.
SaharaReporters learnt that Atiku Abubakar’s lawyers are currently studying the documents obtained from the university and could make them public later in the day.
In response to Abubakar’s third request — which was to release a copy of the diplomas issued in 1997 — the university said the certificates match the format of the Tinubu replacement dated June 27, 1997.
“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. CSU is also producing, Bates labelled as CSU 0011 and 0012, diplomas produced for other CSU students (with their names redacted for privacy) which match the format of the Tinubu replacement dated June 27, 1997,” the university wrote.
Several samples of diplomas (certificates) awarded in 1979 to other students were released by the university as demanded by Abubakar.
Tinubu had previously claimed to have lost his original certificates but presented a replacement for his CSU diploma to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 presidential election.
On September 19, Jeffrey Gilbert, a US magistrate judge, granted the request and ordered CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records within 24 hours.
However, the president moved to block it by filing an appeal against the order.
Atiku intends to use the CSU academic record in pursuit of his appeal at the Supreme Court where he is challenging Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.
But Tinubu’s legal team has argued that the documents would be of no use at the Supreme Court.
