The ongoing legal tussle between
President Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his Chicago
State University academic records has taken a new twist after a self-acclaimed
classmate of the former Lagos Governor, Olajide Adeniji, swore to an oath that
he knew him.
Adeniji testified in a United
States district court that he knows and contested against Tinubu as President
of Accounting Society Club at the Department of Business Admin/Accounting in
the same alma mater.
The development is coming two
weeks after a public affairs analyst, Durojaiye Ogunsanya, also claimed to be a
coursemate to the Nigerian president.
Ogunsanya, who featured on TVC’s popular breakfast show ‘This Morning,’ testified that they both graduated from the Department of Accounting and Business Administration in 1979 at the same university.
In the oath taken on September 23
at the Northern District of Illinois Court in Chicago, Adeniji swore to an
affidavit that he was familiar with the same Tinubu who is the current
president of Nigeria.
His affidavit read, “I, Olajide
Adeniji, after having been first duly sworn upon oath, do hereby state that I
am over 21 years of age, that I have personal knowledge of the facts stated
herein, and could competently testify thereto if called upon to do so: I
attended Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois from 1977 to 1979 when I
graduated with a degree in Business Administration/Accounting in 1979.
“I am familiar with Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, who is now the President of Nigeria. I was a student at Chicago State
University from 1977 to 1979 and Bola Tinubu and I were in the same course of
study.
“I also ran in a closely-contested race
against and Bola Tinubu for the Leadership of Accounting Society Club of the
Department of Business Administration/Accounting. I also recognize and know the
person who I attended Chicago State University with, Bola A. Tinubu, is the
same person who is now the President of Nigeria. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C 1746, I
declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct”
Atiku had secured an application
for CSU to make the president’s academic records available to his legal team.
Acting on the application, a
magistrate, Jeffrey Gilbert, had ordered Tinubu’s alma mater to provide all
relevant and non-privileged documents to the applicant within two days.
Atiku is currently challenging
the victory of the former Lagos State governor at the 2023 presidential poll
and his recent affirmation by an election petition court in Nigeria.
The documents sought by the PDP
candidate, through his counsel, Angela Liu, include the record of admission and
acceptance at the university, dates of attendance including degrees, awards and
honours attained by the former governor of Lagos State at the university, among
others.
But Tinubu, on Monday, pleaded
with the US district Judge, Nancy Maldonado, to order Chicago State University
to protect his privileged information such as admission records, transcripts
and gender and release only his certificate to the legal team of former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar.
The motion to preclude other
documents was filed by the president’s lawyer, Christopher Carmichael, who
stressed that ‘the most critical fact has already been clearly and
unequivocally established’ by his alma mater.’
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