Ahead of the judgement presentation by the Presidential Election Tribunal for petitions filed by opposition candidates in the February 25, 2023 election, former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has faced another legal setback.
The Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois County in the United States, dismissed the lawsuit filed by the PDP candidate seeking access to President Bola Tinubu’s confidential educational records at Chicago State University.
According to the court papers from the Circuit Court, Justice Patrick J. Heneghan dismissed the case without prejudice. The judgement, dated July 31, 2023, stated that the “Petitioner’s subpoena in this case is withdrawn, and thus Chicago State University will not be deposed pursuant to the subpoena in this case.”
In his ruling, Justice Heneghan clarified that “the case is dismissed without prejudice and resolves all matters pending before the court.”
Atiku and his supporters had consistently claimed that President Tinubu did not attend Chicago State University, attempting to disqualify his candidature based on this premise. However, a leading Chicago State official has reaffirmed that President Tinubu is a distinguished alumnus of the university.
Caleb Westberg, the registrar of Chicago State University, stated in an affidavit that “Bola Ahmed Tinubu graduated and was awarded a degree by Chicago State University on June 22, 1979.”
Efforts to reach Atiku Abubakar’s media office for a response were unsuccessful. Mr. Paul Ibe, Atiku’s media adviser, did not answer calls and had not responded to messages at the time of this report filing.
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyer