One of President Bola Tinubu’s legal representatives, Oluwole Afolabi, has expressed skepticism about the significance of Atiku Abubakar’s recent court victory in Chicago, asserting that it holds no relevance to Atiku’s Supreme Court appeal against Tinubu’s election.
In a WhatsApp message discussing the implications of Judge Nancy Maldonado’s ruling, Afolabi emphasized that the Electoral Act prohibits the introduction of new evidence during an appeal. He stated that parties are required to provide a list of documents they intend to use at the time they file their petition and cannot surprise their opponents by introducing new evidence afterward.
Babatunde Ogala, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Tinubu’s personal lawyer, echoed Afolabi’s sentiment, deeming any documents obtained from Chicago State University by Atiku as useless. Ogala pointed out that these documents could no longer be used and had no value since the opportunity to present them had passed.
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Ogala also clarified the specific requests made by Atiku to Chicago State University, some of which had already been provided to the Presidential Election Petition Court before its September 6 judgment that dismissed Atiku and Peter Obi’s petitions.
Atiku requests included confirmation of President Tinubu’s attendance at Chicago State University and details of his grades. However, the school objected to releasing Tinubu’s other electronic records, citing privacy laws in the United States.
Judge Nancy Maldonado upheld the judgment of Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, ordering Chicago State University to release President Bola Tinubu’s records to Atiku Abubakar.
The ruling confirmed that President Tinubu’s appeal to prevent the release of the documents had failed. As a result, Chicago State University is scheduled to release relevant non-privileged documents on Monday, October 2, and the deposition by CSU will occur on Tuesday, October 3.
Judge Maldonado, in her 33-page ruling, emphasized the urgency of complying with the pending Supreme Court of Nigeria’s deadline, set for October 5, 2023.
She directed CSU to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents by noon on October 2, 2023, and the Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee to be completed by 5:00 pm on October 3, 2023. Importantly, she stated that these deadlines would not be extended or modified due to the impending Supreme Court deadline.
