Justice Nancy Maldonado of the Northern Illinois District has postponed a ruling in the case brought forward by Atiku Abubakar against Chicago State University (CSU), concerning the academic records of President Bola Tinubu.
In this legal dispute, Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had filed a motion challenging Tinubu’s request for CSU to withhold privileged documents in his academic records.
President Tinubu, represented by his legal team, had requested Justice Maldonado to delay the order of Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, which had directed the university to release his academic records to Atiku.
Tinubu’s lawyers submitted a comprehensive briefing to the court, seeking a review of Judge Gilbert’s order. They urged the judge to prevent him from enduring severe and irreparable damage by urgently putting a hold on the recent order to release his university records.
Judge Maldonado granted Tinubu’s request and ordered a stay on Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s ruling. She decided to reevaluate the application.
Furthermore, Judge Maldonado directed Tinubu’s legal team to submit necessary documents on their client’s behalf by Monday, September 25th, explaining why a subpoena should not be issued against CSU for the release of the documents.
During the ruling on Saturday, Judge Nancy Maldonado revealed that she had reserved the judgment due to a flood of emotional emails received from third parties, which exerted pressure on the court.
She stated, “The Court understands the significant public interest in this dispute, but the Court will not consider any third-party or ex parte submissions. Rather, the Court’s review will be limited to the parties’ briefing and the official record on the docket.”
The judge concluded by announcing that the date for the final ruling would be communicated to all parties involved.
Discussion about this post