President Bola Tinubu has asked the District Court to block the implementation of the United States Magistrate Court’s order requiring Chicago State University to give Abubakar Atiku’s academic records. Atiku is a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidency.
Chicago University has been given 48 hours by the magistrate court to enable Atiku access to Tinubu’s files.
But on Thursday, Tinubu claimed in a new application that the magistrate had violated the Constitution by serving as a final judge in such discovery cases.
He argued that in such cases, a magistrate should merely report to and make recommendations to the district judge.
Tinubu added that the magistrate court had on September 19 seemed to issue a definitive ruling requiring immediate compliance beginning on September 21.
“Intervenor asks this court to enter an immediate order delaying the effect of the magistrate’s order, at least until Monday, September 25, 2023, so the court may fully consider both the scope of the magistrate’s authority to issue the order without review and the question of whether the magistrate’s order was a correct application of the law to the facts presented.”
In order to thoroughly evaluate the order’s scope and its application of the law to the provided facts, he asked the court to postpone the impact of the magistrate’s ruling until September 25, 2023.
Tinubu stressed that other courts, taking into account the authority of magistrates to rule on Section 1782 applications, opted for issuing findings and recommendations in the motion submitted by his attorney, Mr. Carmichael.
The intervenor questions the magistrate’s power to decide the Section 1782 petition and require Chicago State University to comply right away.
“‘Intervenor will suffer prejudice since the information will have been released and meaningful redress will be impossible if Chicago State University complies with the Magistrate’s order before this Court has the chance to examine the order.
“The documents must be produced today in accordance with the order. (Dkt. 40, pg. 31.)
While the Magistrate noted that the applicant was “in no small part” to blame for the “tight timeframe,” Tinubu insisted that he has till September 27 at the very least to present his materials. (Dt. 40, pg. 28.)
“That gives the Court adequate time to examine the decision and, if discovery were allowed to continue, for the applicant to still get the material requested.
“Intervenor is bringing this motion separately from its challenge to the Magistrate’s decision on the application due to the timing for compliance by Chicago State University—later today. By the end of the day, the intervenor plans to submit a substantive brief addressing the flaws in the magistrate’s judgement.
“Intervenor proposes that the Court postpone compliance by Chicago State University until Monday. This will give the parties time to evaluate the Magistrate’s decision and, if necessary, for the discovery to continue before September 27.
For instance, a production might happen on Tuesday morning, followed by a deposition in the afternoon, and a court reporter could offer a preliminary or real-time transcript that night.
“Alexandre de Gramont, the attorney for the applicant, who is opposed to the motion, spoke with Christopher W. Carmichael, the attorney for the intervenor.
Accordingly, the intervenor requests that the court allow the emergency application and postpone the execution of the magistrate’s order until the close of business on Monday, September 25, 2023.
The Special Advisor on Media and Publicity to the former Vice President, Mr. Paul Ibe, saw Tinubu’s motion and acknowledged its receipt.
Ibe, on the other hand, saw Tinubu’s move as a delay attempt to drag down the disclosure of academic records before the Supreme Court starts hearing Atiku’s appeal against the President Election Petition Tribunal’s ruling from September 6.
