The legal team of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, plans to file a motion to challenge Tinubu’s plea for Chicago State University not to release privileged documents in his academic records.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Atiku’s lawyers had up to 48 hours, which expired on Wednesday midnight, to respond to the motion in the US court.
Atiku had earlier secured an order for CSU to make Tinubu’s academic records available to his legal team. However, Tinubu’s lawyers approached US District Judge Nancy Maldonado, arguing that the earlier decision by the magistrate judge Jeffrey Gilbert needed to be reviewed.
Maldonado granted the request for a review and delayed the order until Monday.
Tinubu’s lawyers argue that his academic records are not useful in Nigerian courts and that Atiku’s request is unduly intrusive.
The documents sought by Atiku, through his counsel, Angela Liu, include the record of admission and acceptance at the university and dates of attendance, including degrees, awards, and honours attained by the former governor of Lagos State at the university, among others.
When asked on Wednesday to confirm if Atiku has filed the suit as he earlier threatened on Monday, Special Adviser to Atiku on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, said the former vice president would submit the motion before midnight, The Punch reports.
He said, “I am sure you have seen his application. We are working on our response. We have up till midnight today (Wednesday) to respond to them. And we will.”
On when they expect the court to rule over the matter, Shaibu stated that, “It is after we have responded to the court, that it will fix the date and inform the parties.”
Nigeria has become the laughing stock of the Nations