Atiku defeats Tinubu as Judge Nancy Maldonado rules in US court
US Judge Nancy Maldonado has ordered Chicago State University (CSU) to release all relevant documents regarding Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Judge Nancy Maldonado stated in her judgement that all non-privileged Tinubu-related CSU documents must be released to Atiku as requested.
In addition, the judge ordered that the deposition of CSU's cooperating representative be concluded by Monday, October 2, 2023.
Meanwhile, Supreme News reports that President Tinubu and Atiku are at odds over the discrepancies in the Nigerian leader's CSU records, as the institution, in response to a previous subpoena in 2022, released documents indicating a female Bola Tinubu from South West College was admitted to the university to pursue a degree in accounting.
Also at issue was CSU's obstinate refusal to authenticate whether or not the diploma Tinubu submitted to Nigeria's electoral body, INEC, was genuine or forged, which fueled allegations of forgery and perjury for which Mr. Abubakar is seeking to overturn Mr. Tinubu's election victory in Nigeria's Supreme Court.
The signatures on the diploma that Mr. Tinubu submitted to INEC were those of two women who joined CSU in 1998 and 1996, nearly 20 years after the president matriculated in 1979. Angela Liu, the U.S. attorney representing Abubakar, told the court on Wednesday, "The diploma dated June 22 bears the hallmarks of a forgery."
Supreme News reports that on September 20, 2023, another US judge, Jeffrey Gilbert, ordered CSU to divulge Tinubu's records; however, the Nigerian President begged Ms. Maldonado to delay the order's enforcement, citing severe and irreparable harm to his life. On September 6, the presidential election petitions tribunal upheld Tinubu's election victory.
Atiku, however, firmly believes that the decision was deeply flawed and a miscarriage of justice, prompting him to file an appeal with the nation's Supreme Court, where he intends to use the CSU records to demonstrate that the president may have committed forgery and perjury, two serious allegations that, if proven, would not only result in Tinubu's dismissal but could also permanently damage his political career.
