Ahead of the presentation of judgment by the Presidential Election Tribunal in the petitions filed by opposition candidates in the February 25, 2023 election, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PD) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has suffered another legal blow.

A Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois County in the United States dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate to get access to President Bola Tinubu’s confidential educational records at Chicago State University.

According to the Circuit Court papers, which was made available at the weekend, Justice Patrick J. Heneghan, had dismissed the case without prejudice.

In the judgment, dated July 31, 2023, the judge held that the “Petitioner’s subpoena in this case is withdrawn, and thus Chicago State University will not be deposed pursuant to the subpoena in this case.”

Ruling on the matter, Justice Heneghan said “the case is dismissed without prejudice and resolves all matters pending before the court.”

Atiku and his cohorts had often claimed that President Tinubu did not attend Chicago State University in a bid to disqualify his candidature.

Meanwhile, a leading Chicago State official has again confirmed that the president is a long time and distinguished alumnus of the university.

In an affidavit, the registrar of Chicago State University, Caleb Westberg, deposed that “Bola Ahmed Tinubu graduated and was awarded a degree by Chicago State University on June 22, 1979.

Efforts to get the reaction of the media office of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were not successful.

Atiku’s media adviser Mr Paul Ibe, did not answer his calls and was yet to react to messages sent to his phone at the time of filing this report. (Daily Trust)

• Atiku Abubakar

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