Atiku tells U.S. court he’s appealing Nigerian tribunal ruling favouring Tinubu to Supreme Court

The submission marked the first indication that the Nigerian opposition leader would seek to overturn Wednesday’s verdict by a panel of five appellate judges.

ADEFEMOLA AKINTADE • September 7, 2023

Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu

Atiku Abubakar has made known his intention to appeal the judgement of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, which on Wednesday struck out his petitions against President Bola Tinubu, according to court filings seen by Peoples Gazette.

Mr Abubakar, who contested the February 25 polls under the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asked the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago for an expedited issuance of the order of rights to discovery of Mr Tinubu’s Chicago State University records so that he could use them to file his appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria within the next 21 days, according to filing first obtained by The Gazette.

“At the outset, Abubakar must inform this Court that the Nigerian Court of Appeals reportedly issued a ruling today (September 6, 2023), finding in favour of Tinubu and against Abubakar. Abubakar now has 21 days—until September 27, 2023—to file his appeal of that ruling to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which Applicant intends to do,” the Nigerian politician told the U.S. court in a September 6, 2023, filing.

“Time is therefore of the essence and Abubakar respectfully asks this Court for an expedited ruling and order, so that if this Court grants the discovery requested, Abubakar can receive the documents and take the Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU before September 27,” his lawyers, led by Angela Liu, said.

The filing came as part of his response to Mr Tinubu’s claim that the discovery from Chicago State University (CSU) was too late to be useful in the case challenging his election victory in Nigeria. The submission marked the first indication that Mr Abubakar would appeal the judgement, which came on Wednesday night (Nigerian time) by a panel of five appellate justices.

But Mr Abubakar was hopeful that the documents would prove useful at the nation’s Supreme Court, where his appeal must be filed within 21 days from when the tribunal gave its ruling.

Mr Abubakar’s attorneys, however, noted that the “Nigerian Court of Appeals’ decision in no way changes this Court’s analysis under

Section 1782.” Section 1782 is the statute that allows the release of documents and evidence domiciled in the U.S. for use in a foreign proceeding.

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