Chicago: US Judge says Nigerians bombarding her with hordes of emails, assures of speedy ruling 

 

US Judge, Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District Court of Illinois, has assured of speedy ruling on the appeal President Bola Tinubu filed against the release of his education records with the Chicago State University. 

Tinubu’s major political opponent in the February 25 election, Atiku Abubakar, had applied to a U.S. Magistrate Judge, and received his nod for Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s education record. 

But Tinubu appealed the ruling to Judge Maldonado, pleading that the release of the records would cause him severe and irreparable damage. 

On Friday, Judge Maldonado said her court has been inundated with emails from Nigerians seeking to know the status of the case.  

The judge said due to the public interest in the case, she would issue a ruling on the matter “as soon as possible,” according to court filing quoted by Peoples Gazette.

“The Court notes that Court staff has received extensive email communications from members of the public related to this case,” stated the court document entered into docket on Friday. 

Consequently, the “Court will endeavour to issue a written ruling as soon as possible,” the Judge noted. 

“The Court understands the significant public interest in this dispute but the Court will not consider any third-party or ex parte submissions,” the judge added. 

Messrs Tinubu and Abubakar have been at loggerheads over the discrepancies in the Nigerian leader’s CSU records, as the institution in response to a previous subpoena in 2022, released documents showing a female Bola Tinubu from South West college was admitted to the school to pursue a degree in accounting.

Also at issue was CSU’s adamant refusal to authenticate the diploma Mr Tinubu submitted to Nigeria’s electoral body, INEC, to be genuine or falsified, which has fuelled allegations of forgery and perjury for which Mr Abubakar is seeking to void Mr Tinubu’s election victory at Nigeria’s Supreme Court.

Further confusing were the signatures on the diploma that Mr Tinubu submitted to INEC, which were those of two women, Elnora Daniel and Niva Lubin who joined CSU in 1998 and 1996, nearly 20 years after the president graduated in 1979.

“The June 22 diploma has indicia of forgery,” Angela Liu, the U.S. attorney representing Mr Abubakar, told the court on Wednesday.