Oghenefejiro ErhiagbojeBy Oghenefejiro Erhiagboje
Two television personalities anchoring the Arise News Morning Show, Dr Reuben Abati, and Rufai Oseni, who are known for their in-depth analysis of issues, on Wednesday, 27th September, 2023, took different positions on the ongoing saga about effort by Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to block the release of his academic records at Chicago State University (CSU) to Atiku Abubakar.
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Tinubu had last week through his lawyers approached the District Court of Northern Illinois, Eastern Division, United States to delay the release of his academic records to Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had requested for it as part of documents he wants to file alongside his appeal at the Nigeria’s Supreme Court.
The court had earlier ordered CSU to release certified true copies of Tinubu’s records to Atiku. However, the court Judge, Ms Maldonado on Thursday, granted an application filed by Tinubu’s lawyers for the release of the records to be delayed. The president’s lawyers stated that he would sufferel irreparable damage if the records are released.
During the programme, Arise News Morning Show, Rufai Oseni stressed the importance of having the records released to the public. According to him, it would help to clear all allegations that
President Tinubu falsified his results.
“What will make us accept him is when that document is released. And please, it’s not about Atiku Abubakar, it’s about the seat of the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and this is a cry for Nigerians,” Oseni said.
“It is sad enough that the president’s legal team has said it is going to cause him irreparable damage and I keep asking, what irreparable damage is it going to cause for your own results and transcripts to be released? If you are a private citizen, nobody cares about your transcripts and your results, but now you are a public citizen, you belong to us Nigerians.”
TV anchor stated that in the space of three days, president Tinubu had sent out two appeals against release of his documents.
Rufai, who fully supported the release of the documents by the CSU, at least for the sake of accountability, stated that the president should not have issues with the release of his results if he was truly an academically vibrant student that he had earlier claimed he was while in the school.
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However, Dr Abati took a different stance on the matter He argued that Nigeria and the U.S are two different jurisdictions. According to him, while the U.S jurisdiction supports the privacy of a public office holder and only breaches it when it concerns the interests of the public, they have no right whatsoever to interfere or determine the interest of Nigerians.
Countering Rufai’s argument, Abati said that President Tinubu’s counsels were right to have demanded the respect of his privacy as he had a right to it. He said that president Tinubu’s counsels had demanded that the results be restricted to his Diploma as it was the only official result declared to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), after all, Atiku Abubakar had not paid any of his school fees and as such, lacks the right to request the release of the president’s documents in the custody of the CSU.
Continuing, the seasoned journalist said that the president is therefore, the only person with the full rights to permit the release of his school details.
He also pointed out the fact that the U.S Magistrate, Jeffery Girette, does not have the right to order the release of President Tinubu’s results in a 48-hour ultimatum as the right is only fully reserved for the Nigerian law courts.
Dr Abati cited the fact that Tinubu’s counsels are also questioning the basis for the application for the order of mandamus in a foreign jurisdiction which according to him is a very important point in the Law of Civil Litigation as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal had already ruled that Tinubu and his running mate are fit and eligible to run and had been validly elected.
Therefore, whatever Tinubu’s counsels are doing, within the province of the law, according to him, is perfectly within their rights to do so.
An issue he said was raised by Tinubu’s counsels was whether the discovery from the released documents could be used in a Nigerian Court of law as the Supreme Court in Nigeria is not a court of evidence, as they expected that whatever evidences available should have been submitted to a lower court of law before they were approached. And, according to him, Don Pedro Obaseki had issued a statement regarding this, that if the Supreme Court of Nigeria was confronted with compelling facts, it may consider fresh evidences, which will be under exceptional circumstances and which will be their decision alone to make, after considering the relevance and admissibility of the case. Therefore, if the Supreme Court considers the discovery very irrelevant, they are not bound by what a court in a foreign jurisdiction does or says, what they will consider is whether not considering the discovery will amount to a miscarriage of justice.
He finally advised Nigerians to wait for the discovery before jumping into conclusions and reminded adding that a similar event that happened to the past presidents of the United States; president Barracks Obama, president Bush, president Trump, who all stood their grounds on the privacy and access limitations of their academic records. Thus, Tinubu’s counsels are not doing anything wrong in sending two different appeals against the release of his records as it is right within the province of the law and should not be overtaken by sentiments and emotions.
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