Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar has hailed the US Court decision that has compelled Chicago State University to release all academic records of Bola Tinubu saying the truth about the president is coming to light finally.
A statement signed by Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, said the alleged certificate scam pertaining to Tinubu which he has been hiding for over two decades would finally be exposed.
Atiku was speaking hours after Justice Nancy Maldonado, a US Federal Judge, gave an order for the Chicago State University to release all Tinubu’s academic records to him.
Tinubu had fought to stop the release after a district court had granted Atiku the relief.
He had said releasing the documents would have far reaching consequences, to which the court held on Sunday that exposing who the president is was in the interest of Nigerians rather than an individual and granted Atiku’s request.
In view of the importance of the case and time, the court gave the order which CSU must obey within 48 hours.
Hailing the decision, Atiku said the order was achieved because of the independence of the Judiciary of the United States of America.
He pointed out that Tinubu has evaded justice since 1999 when legendary human rights lawyer, late Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), first blew the lid on his certificates scam.
He noted that Nigerian judges had continued to give Tinubu justice without considering the merit of the case but on technical ground.
“Justice Maldonado who has spent less than one year on the bench and who sat on this case for barely a month, has been able to do what the Nigerian judiciary could not do for 23 years.
This explains why the Nigerian society is on the brink of slipping into the state of nature, which Thomas Hobbes described as short, brutish, and nasty,” Atiku said.
Speaking of what Tinubu’s lawyer and former National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress, Babatunde Ogala, described as a court victory of no consequence, Atiku said, “Ordinarily, we would not have responded to the words of a legal Lilliputian who has never won any landmark case in court and whose growth in the legal field is tied to the apron strings of a Chicago Bagman.
“However, the truth needs to be said for the sake of posterity.
“Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Judge may have had Ogala in mind when he wrote “…about the wickedness of people shielding wrongdoers and passing them off (or at least allowing them to pass themselves off) and then proposed a remedy that “_If the broad light of day could be let in upon men’s actions, it would purify them as the sun disinfects.”
“It is unfortunate that Ogala glorifies technicality instead of justice. Ogala claimed that the victory was meaningless.
“So, why did his principal try to block the release of his credentials if he had nothing to hide? Why did he also appeal the initial judgment?
“The Bible says only the wicked run when no one chases them. Why has Tinubu been blocking the release of his academic records for nearly 30 years?”
He added, “Ogala was lobbying to be the Attorney-General. He believed it was his birthright after defending Tinubu in court on several occasions.
“However, having only received the title of senior advocate two years ago without any remarkable or landmark cases under his belt, Tinubu opted for the more experienced Lateef Fagbemi.
“Since then, Ogala has been trying to ingratiate himself to Tinubu and is now standing logic on its head just to please his master. How pathetic!”