Atiku in race to beat Supreme Court deadline, as US judge reserves judgement on Tinubu’s CSU certificate

[By VICTOR NZE]

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is now racing to beat the 14-day deadline set by the Supreme Court in Nigeria for litigants to file appeal against the judgement delivered by the President Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) which closed proceedings, last Wednesday.

The five-member PEPT panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani had affirmed the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and President, Bola Tinubu as duly elected in the February 25 election, as it also dismissed all three petitions filed by the PDP/Atiku, Labour Party and its candidate, Mr Peter Obi, as well as, the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner on March 1, 2023.

However, following the decision by Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, Eastern Division, to reserve judgement to a later date, it is feared that Atiku may not meet up with the Supreme Court’s deadline of 14 days to appeal, with seven days already gone from the statutory 14 days.

The US court judge was left stunned after counsel to the Chicago State University (CSU) told his court, Tuesday, that it does not have any record ‘of the credentials of President Bola Tinubu, who graduated from the institution in 1979.

Atiku has approached US court to compel the Chicago State University (CSU) to publicly release credentials of Tinubu with which he applied for admission into the school following conflicting evidence of forged credentials the APC candidate presented to INEC prior to the 2023 elections.

Atiku seeks to back his charge of perjury as contained in his petition marked CA/ PEPC/05/2023 at the just-concluded Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja.

The tribunal had dismissed Atiku’s prayers on ineligibility of Tinubu to contest on the grounds of perjury based on insufficient evidence, which the petitioner now intends to provide to the Supreme Court in his appeal.

However, that quest has now suffered a setback as the Chicago court judge, Wednesday night (Nigerian time) said he needed more time to reach a decision following the confusion the case had caused in his court as both the Chicago school and its counsel, had denied the originality or otherwise of the credentials which their student (Tinubu) had presented before INEC for clearance.

The school also told the court no record of Tinubu exists at its archives, including the social security number, passport, or date of birth, adding further that it cannot authenticate whether it was a male or female student who was issued with the certificate by the school in 1979.

The shocked judged then requested for more time to process the confusion, as he informed the parties to the dispute that he needed additional time to digest his decision after learning of the discrepancy in the transcripts.

“I will have to take this matter under advisement,” the judge said, adding that his court would communicate a new judgement or hearing date with counsel to all parties.

With the decision, Atiku has till next Wednesday to file an objection at the Supreme Court to back his already filed evidence at the Tribunal.

During Wednesday’s resumed hearing, Tinubu’s lawyer, Christopher Carmichael, had tried to use the female gender marker on the transcript to dismiss the subpoena application as a “fishing expedition” based on a conspiracy theory. But the Atiku’s lawyer, Alexandre de Gramont, said the possibility of Tinubu being a woman was first revealed in records produced by CSU itself.

CSU lawyer Michael Hayes confirmed that the school had indeed turned in records to Mr Mike Enahoro-Ebah in 2022, but insisted that Tinubu, the Nigerian president, was the one who attended and graduated from the school. However, he said he could not explain the contradictions, and the school’s administrators would not be able to state under oath that the certificate Tinubu has been parading was genuine or otherwise.

The plaintiff, Atiku Abubakar, is seeking the subpoena to clarify outstanding questions regarding Tinubu’s background, particularly his age, gender and citizenship status under which he was admitted to CSU.

Atiku insists Tinubu submitted a forged certificate to electoral office INEC in violation of Nigeria’s Constitution, a case of perjury and that he should not be Nigeria’s president as a result.

During Tuesday’s hearing, CSU under examination explained that it cannot provide, verify or authenticate the documents used by Tinubu in gaining admission into the school, including his social security number and date of birth, adding further that it cannot also tell if the degree presented to INEC by Tinubu was real or genuine.

The Chicago varsity though admitted that Tinubu did graduate from the institution, it does not have a record of his diploma but is ‘certain he graduated from their school.’

The school further said it does not keep records of graduates’ dates written on their certificates, ‘only name and the major of the student.’

Atiku’s counsel in the U.S, Angela Liu told the judge that the records used by Tinubu was obtained through a lawyer, Mr. Mike Enahoro-Ebah, who had in June 2022 subpoenaed the institution over alleged the fake documents.

Enahoro-Ebah had first alleged that Tinubu submitted an “Affidavit of Personal Particulars” to INEC in June 2022 as part of a required filing to run for President that included a forged CSU diploma dated June 22, 1979 and other information that is inconsistent with the CSU documents.

The stunned judge, reacted by asking if it is the same person involved in the suit, and wondered why the Chicago varsity could not provide records of its graduates also why the purportedly issued certificate bore two signatures of persons not even in the school at the time of the defendant’s graduation.

Ms Elnora Daniel was not the president of CSU when Tinubu graduated but signed the certificate Tinubu tendered to INEC. Also, the 1979 Yearbook of Chicago State University, which would normally contain the names and photographs of that year’s graduates disappeared from the Ancestors.com website.

The judge also asked why the certificates tendered to INEC were two different copies, to which the schools’ counsels claimed not to know.

The judge then ruled for all parties to transmit to him further evidence in their possession to enable him reach a verdict which will be communicated to them by Wednesday night (Nigerian time).

Atiku’s petition marked CA/ PEPC/05/2023 filed at the PEPT included charges of perjury against Tinubu as a ground for disqualifying the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the February 25 election.

Atiku had alleged a criminal conviction, certificate forgery, and dual citizenship of Guinea against Tinubu outside the mode of filing a petition.

However, delivering judgement, Wednesday, the tribunal’s justices ruled that Tinubu was ‘academically qualified to contest for president, as it dismissed Atiku’s petition

Justice Stephen Jonah Adah who read the ruling on objections against the petition, expunged several documents tendered by Atiku on the ground that the exhibits were made during the pendency of the petition.

Also, the evidence of several key witnesses of Atiku were expunged from the Court record having been made in manners not known to law.