Tinubu’s Certificates: APC mocks Atiku, ex-VP set to tender records in S’Court
The All Progressives Congress on Tuesday chided the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for attempting to get President Bola Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University.
Bala Ibrahim, the APC’s National Publicity Director, blamed Atiku and the PDP’s actions on ‘post-election defeat disarray.’
He argued that Nigerians had rejected the opposition party after years of mismanagement and urged the former vice president to retire from politics.
This is happening as the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois apparently received the certificates of the former Lagos State governor, as ordered by Justice Nancy Maldonado.
According to reports, as of 8 p.m. Nigerian time on Tuesday, the court was still accepting depositions for Tinubu’s certificates, despite CSU’s distribution of the documents on Monday in accordance with the court judgment.
Following requests from former Vice President Atiku, the PDP contender in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Chicago State University provided the President’s academic records.
On September 19, Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert granted Atiku’s request for Tinubu’s academic records, but the President filed a review of the judgment.
Read Also: CSU releases Tinubu’s records to Atiku, reveals three facts
Tinubu’s lawyers maintained that the records would be irrelevant in Atiku’s Supreme Court appeal against Tinubu and requested that the verdict be reviewed.
However, federal judge Justice Nancy Maldonado disregarded Tinubu’s concerns and ordered the CSU to divulge 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 labeled 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 labeled CSU 0008 through CSU 0010.
‘’The students’ names on these diplomas have been redacted for privacy reasons. The CSU is also producing Bates labeled 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 labeled 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.”
The Coordinator of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, but the APC publicity director berated Atiku for going to such a length in bitterness over his electoral loss.
He stated, “We have said times without number that the PDP and Atiku are suffering from ‘defeat disorder syndrome.’ The next thing for them to do now is to file another application at the court asking for the number of times Tinubu attended lectures at the Chicago State University.
‘’There is just nothing they won’t question, including asking God why he created the man Tinubu. There is what they call post-trauma disorder syndrome. If they are not treated for it, they will continue to manifest stupidity until such a time when the proper psychiatric assessment of their situation is done.’’
Ibrahim further knocked the PDP for refusing to accept defeat, advising the party’s presidential candidate to retire from public life.
