Judge delays Chicago varsity from releasing Tinubu’s academic records to Atiku… 

A United States District Judge, Nancy Maldonado, has agreed to stay an order directing Chicago State University to make available the academic documents of President Bola Tinubu, to the legal team of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

The hearing came up late Thursday night after the president’s lawyers filed an emergency motion seeking a delay in the implementation of the self-effectuating order directing the CSU to comply with Atiku’s subpoenas till Monday.

It reports that a magistrate, Jeffrey Gilbert, had on Tuesday ordered Tinubu’s alma mater to provide all relevant and non-privileged documents to the applicant, Atiku, within two days.

Documents sought by the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, through his counsel, Angela Liu, include the record of admission and acceptance at the university, dates of attendance including degrees, awards, and honours attained by the former governor of Lagos State at the university, among others.

But the president’s attorneys had argued that the earlier decision by Gilbert needed to be reviewed by a district judge.

Speaking via a phone chat from his base in the United States, Coordinator of Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, Babatunde Ogala, disclosed that what they sought was a review and not an appeal as being peddled in the media.

To further buttress his point, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria emphasised that the US magistrate does not have the power to give an order given to the university to release non-privileged information, adding that he can only make a recommendation.

Few hours after Ogala spoke, his request for a review and delay of the order till Monday was granted by the US district judge.

In the emergency hearing, Maldonado disclosed that mindful of legal deadlines in Nigeria, she would rule on the matter as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the president has departed New York after attending the 78th session of high-level meetings of the UN General Assembly on Thursday where he also addressed world leaders on the relevance of democracy, stressing that military coups are wrong.

Tinubu arrived at the event in the company of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, and the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.