All Progressives Congress on Tuesday chastised the Peoples Democratic Party presidential standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar, over his quest to obtain President Bola Tinubu’s academic records from the Chicago State University.
National Publicity Director of the APC, Bala Ibrahim, attributed Atiku and the PDP’s action to what he called ‘post-election defeat disorder.’
He claimed Nigerians had rejected the opposition party following years of mismanagement and admonished the former vice president to quit politics.
This is happening as the United States’ District Court for Northern Illinois received the former Lagos State governor’s certificates as ordered by Justice Nancy Maldonado.
The court was still taking the deposition of Tinubu’s certificates as of 8pm Nigerian time on Tuesday, following the release of the documents by CSU on Monday in compliance with the court ruling.
Chicago State University released the academic records of the President following requests by former vice president Atiku, who was the PDP candidate in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert had on September 19 granted Atiku’s request for the release of Tinubu’s academic records but the President filed a review of the order.
Tinubu’s lawyers insisted that the documents would not be relevant in Atiku’s appeal against Tinubu at the Supreme Court and asked for a review of the ruling.
However, Justice Nancy Maldonado, a federal judge, overruled Tinubu’s objections and ordered the CSU to release 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 labelled 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 labelled CSU 0008 through CSU 0010.
‘’The students’ names on these diplomas have been redacted for privacy reasons. The CSU is also producing Bates labelled 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, 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, during the period August 1, 2022 to August 1, 2023’’, the CSU said, “The respondents’ documents certified by Orr are produced herewith and Bates labelled 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, 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 it 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.
“Remember, Nigerians voted them out. They refused to accept it and went to court. The court threw them out. They refused and went abroad where they were voted out again.
‘’Now, they are still refusing to accept. To us, it is a foregone issue. The case has been rested. Atiku should just swallow his pride and bow out of public life,” he counselled.
PDP reacts
However, the PDP insisted that Tinubu’s academic record released by his alma mater had vindicated its position.
PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, claimed the CSU record indicated that the President presented conflicting documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Abdullahi hinted that the relevant documents would be presented before the Supreme Court to prove the PDP and Atiku’s case against Tinubu.
Atiku had filed 35 grounds of appeal at the apex court to nullify the Presidential Election Petitions Court’s judgment that affirmed Tinubu as the winner of the February presidential election.
Asked if they were satisfied with the documents released by the CSU, Abdullahi said, “Yes we are; that was exactly what we requested. We have suspected and proven that we have a conflicting record about Tinubu, the president of the country, and that is why we sought reliefs from the court to see what he was issued when he graduated from the Chicago State University as he claimed in 1979.”
Speaking further, he added, “He who alleges must prove. Now that we have the document, we will tender it before the Supreme Court. So it’s now for the revered justices of the Supreme Court to see if indeed what we have said against this person can be proven, and then the necessary thing be done per the extant provisions, laws and the Electoral Act.”
Declaring that ‘the game is up,’ Abdullahi stated, “If the judiciary has any modicum of honour left in it, this is the time to prove it and if Tinubu and his people, APC have anything good for Nigeria in their entire conception, this is the time to prove it. Tinubu and the APC should apologise to Nigerians, hand over and go.”
Punch
