Lawyers of the Nigerian President argued that Gilbert’s decision needed to be reviewed by a district judge.
An emergency appeal by President Bola Tinubu against releasing his academic documents to Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party has been approved by the U.S. District Judge, Nancy Maldonado.
Maldonado agreed to stay an order requiring Chicago State University, CSU, to provide certain academic documents of Bola Tinubu, who is now the President of Nigeria.
Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert had two days ago ordered the CSU to submit the documents by the end of Thursday.
But during an emergency hearing, on Thursday, according to CBS news, Judge Maldonado gave attorneys on both sides an order to file additional arguments by next Thursday.
Lawyers of the Nigerian President argued that Gilbert’s decision needed to be reviewed by a district judge.
And their request was granted by Maldonado, who said she would rule as quickly as possible after that.
“I will have a busy weekend.
“The issue is of process and rules. I’m a rule person; that’s why I’m a judge. This case is quite involved. I am aware of the stakes. It’s more important to me to get this right,” she held.
Recall that Tinubu had filed an Emergency Motion asking the Chicago Court to delay the release of his academic records till at least Monday Sept 25th.
The Chicago Court had ordered the CSU to hand over all records relating to Tinubu’s studentship to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar within two days.
Atiku himself is insisting that Tinubu’s claim of graduating from the Chicago State University is not authentic.
He then filed an application which sought the documents to prove that the Nigerian leader was not eligible to vie for the presidential election when he did.