The United States District Court for Northern Illinois, Eastern Division has stayed compliance with all deadlines contained in the ruling by Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert, directing the Chicago State University (CSU) to, within two days, release President Bola Tinubu‘s academic records to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar.
The court, in a proceedings conducted via video conference on September 21, ordered that the stay shall remain in force pending its ruling on the objections to be filed by an intervenor in the case brought against the CSU by Atiku.
In a “notification of docket entry,” issued by the court’s Clerk on September 21, it said it will decide on the intervenor’s arguments regarding the appropriate standard of review for Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s order when ruling on intervenor’s forthcoming objections.
In the court document, which also contained a schedule of when parties are to file their processes in relation to the intervenor’s objections, the court directed that the intervenor shall file his objections by 9:00 a.m. Central time on September 25, following which the petitioner, may file a response on September 27.
Part of the court document reads: “Notification of docket entry:
“This docket entry was made by the Clerk on Thursday, September 21, 2023: Minute entry before the Honorable Nancy L. Maldonado: Motion hearing held via WebEx video conference.
“For the reasons stated on the record, the court grants in part Intervenor’s motion. The court stays all deadlines in Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s order pending this Court’s ruling on Intervenor’s forthcoming objections pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 72.
“As to intervenor’s arguments regarding the appropriate standard of review for Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s order, the court will decide that issue when ruling on intervenor’s forthcoming objections.
“As discussed on the record, intervenor will file his objections by 9:00 a.m. Central time on 9/25/23. Petitioner may respond by 11:59 p.m.
Central time on 9/27/23. Intervenor may file a reply by 11:59 p.m. Central time on 9/28/23.”
Atiku, on August 2, applied to the court to compel the CSU to provide him with Tinubu’s academic records, claiming to doubt the authenticity of the university’s certificate that Tinubu presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the election.