Judge Nancy Maldonado of a United States court has decided to delay the implementation of an order requiring Chicago State University to provide President Bola Tinubu’s academic records to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s legal team.
This decision came after President Tinubu’s legal representatives submitted an emergency motion on Thursday evening, seeking to postpone the enforcement of the self-executing order.
Tinubu’s academic records
The initial order, issued by Jeffrey Gilbert, directed Tinubu’s alma mater to provide all relevant and non-privileged academic documents to Atiku within two days.
These documents included records of admission, acceptance, attendance dates, degrees, awards, and honors earned by the former Lagos State governor during his time at the university, among other information.
President Tinubu’s legal team argued that Gilbert’s earlier decision required review by a district judge.
Babatunde Ogala, the Coordinator of Tinubu’s Presidential Legal Team, clarified that their request was for a review, not an appeal, as reported in the media.
He emphasized that the US magistrate lacked the authority to issue an order mandating the university to release non-privileged information; he could only make a recommendation.
The US district judge approved the request for a review and decided to postpone the order’s enforcement until Monday.
During the emergency hearing, Judge Maldonado expressed awareness of legal deadlines in Nigeria and committed to ruling on the matter as quickly as possible.
She underscored the importance of adhering to legal processes and rules and stated her dedication to ensuring a thorough and precise resolution of the case.