Politics
Don’t Wash My Dirty Linens In Public – Tinubu To US Court
A United States’ District Judge, Nancy Maldonado, has received a passionate prayer from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to help shield his ugly past, by ordering the Chicago State University (CSU) to guard his personal information from the public.
President Tinubu madet the prayers on Monday, and among what he is desperate to keep from the public are his admission records, transcripts and gender.
Interestintly, these are what the legal team of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar canvass would be of interest to the Nigerian public and help determine their appeal against the ruling of the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
However, President Tinubu’s legal team are praying the judge to sanction the release of only his certificate to the appellants.
The motion was filed by the president’s lawyer, Christopher Carmichael, with the clear stance that “the most critical fact has already been clearly and unequivocally established” by President Tinubu’s alma mater.
Recall that Atiku’s legal team had secured an order from a US magistrate, Jeffrey Gilbert, for the CSU to make President Tinubu’s academic records available to them.
Among the documents Atiku’s, counsel, Angela Liu, applied for, are the record of President Tinubu’s admission and acceptance at the CSU, dates of attendance, degrees, awards and honours attained by the former governor of Lagos State at the university.
Recall that with the last Thursday deadline set by Gilbert at hand, President Tinubu’s lawyers approached Maldonado, praying that the earlier decision by Gilbert needed to be reviewed by a district judge.
The judge acceded to their prayers.
There was a twist on Monday, however, as President Tinubu’s legal team prayed the court to release only the certificate and preclude other academic records, which they described as “privileged”.
An extract from the motion filed by President Tinubu’s lawyer read, “The most critical fact has already been clearly and unequivocally established by Chicago State University: Intervenor was awarded the degree as he stated.
“This point is irrelevant to the applicant because he is not seeking anything more than opposition research on a political opponent.
“The magistrate judge clearly erred in granting the application for discovery and concluding that Chicago State University must respond to the document and deposition subpoenas.
“That conclusion should be set aside and the application should be denied because the information sought cannot be used and therefore is not ‘for use’ in the foreign proceedings.
“Even if a narrow subset of information can be considered ‘for use’ in the foreign proceeding, that is limited to the diploma submitted to INEC.
“Fishing expeditions into other documents and more document productions must be precluded.”
This twist comes two days after the self-acclaimed classmate of the president, Olajide Adeniji, testified in the US district court that he knows and contested against President Tinubu as President of the Accounting Society Club at the Department of Business Admin/Accounting in the same CSU.
In the oath he took on September 23 at the Northern District of Illinois Court in Chicago, Adeniji swore that he was familiar with the same President Tinubu, the current president of Nigeria.
Biztellers gathered that Atiku’s camp has sworn to resist President Tinubu’s recent move, which they aver made it obvious that the President was bent on hiding something from Nigerians.
The Atiku camp is already bubbly with the prayers of the President Tinubu legal team.
They consider it a veiled confession that President Tinubu was living on a borrowed identity and would approach the court with counter-prayers.
Director, Research and Strategy, Atiku/Okowa 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, Pedro Obaseki, alleged that the claim by President Tinubu that the release of his record to the public would cause him personal pain was because the owner of the disputed certificate is a woman.
Speaking at a Zoom conference hosted by a London-based psychologist, Gold Emmanuel on Monday, Obaseki said the CSU would only confirm what Atiku’s camp already knew by making public the record of President Tinubu, who graduated from the institution in the late 70s.
He said, “Nigerians will be more demoralised that the owner of the certificate that President Tinubu is parading is a woman.
“We already know it as a fact, but we are seeking the release of the documents officially by CSU.”
Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has expressed appreciation to Osun people for their resolute support of his administration in its quest to deliver on his five-point agenda on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)
Gov Adeleke expressed the views while addressing a technical meeting of his Policy Coordination Unit on Saturday, where he reviewed the implementation of his five-point agenda and expressed satisfaction at the delivery so far across the various sectors.
He said, “I am largely satisfied with our programme implementation so far. We have surpassed expectations and targets within one and half years in office. We just need to redouble our efforts as we face mid-term in the next six months.
“The feedback from the public has been quite encouraging. Our people have gladly given us an A-rating in workers’ welfare, infrastructure, health, education and many more. We must express our appreciation to our people
“They are happy we are delivering on good governance. A friend said our approval rating is over 80 percent. I told him I must work harder in some areas, especially that 20 percent gap. The good thing is we are just one and half years in office.
“Our party has also become very entrenched across the local governments. Leaders who were not with me during the guber primaries are now solidly with us. We are gaining more ground as people get pleasant surprises with our performance.
“Feedback shows our people are happy with our dual effort at physical and stomach infrastructure. We will continue to build the road and the people. We will not neglect human development for physical development.
“We must therefore ensure proper coordination in policy design and implementation. Our policy innovation in power, digital economy, agriculture, general economic planning, investment drive, sustainable development, youth development and gender focus must be properly harnessed under the five-point agenda.”
Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has warned against attempts to destabilize the peace and security of Igbajo by some group of people led by Prince Gboyega Famodun through conflicting Oroke festival days.
He directed security agencies to deal decisively with any trouble maker.
According to a government statement, issued in Osogbo, reports at the disposal of the government indicated an attempt by a faction belonging to Famodun to create conflict at Igbajo by fixing a different festival date from the one officially announced by the legal and officially crowned king of Igbajo, Oba Ademola Makinde.
An effort, it noted was designed to create violence and crisis in the peaceful town of Igbajo.
As a government, the statement added, we reiterate that the Monarch of Igbajo today is Oba Ademola Makinde and the May 23rd already fixed for the Oroke Day Festival remains the sacrosanct date for the popular cultural and traditionally significant event.
“We note further that the Head of Igbajo traditional institution remains the present Owa of Igbajo, Oba Ademola Makinde and he is therefore empowered and entitled to fix the day for the Oroke festival. Actions of the Famodun faction is therefore against tradition and law and is therefore a nullity.
“In a bid to forestall breakdown of law and order and in line with my responsibility as the Chief Security Officer of Osun state, I direct security agencies to enforce the holding of the Oroke festival on the official date of May 23rd and to ensure no gathering is held on May 19th set by any other faction.
“The above directive and actions are taken to maintain peace and protect the ancient town from those hell-bent on manipulating the traditional institution to destabilize the state”, the Governor was quoted as saying,” he cautioned.
Adamawa State High Court’s Justice Benjamin Manji Lawan has issue an arrest warrant for suspended INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari.
The court instructed the Inspector General of Police to promptly apprehend Barrister Ari and present him in court to face trial on three charges.
This directive followed an application filed by the Adamawa State Government on April 16, 2024.
During the proceedings, Chief L. D. Nzadon, representing the complainant, informed the court that they were seeking an arrest warrant against the defendant.
Referring to Section 20, Subsection (1j) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) 2018, Chief Nzadon urged the court to utilize its authority and instruct the Inspector General of Police to apprehend the defendant, regardless of his location.
He explained that attempts to serve the defendant were unsuccessful, as the court’s bailiff had been in Bauchi State from May 2nd to May 4th, 2024, but couldn’t locate him.
In his ruling on the application, the judge noted that this was the third instance the case had been mentioned without the defendant present in court.
He acknowledged the complainant’s counsels’ explanation regarding their inability to serve Ari, suggesting that it seemed he was deliberately avoiding
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