According to Peoples Gazette, Atiku Abubakar has stated he would appeal the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, which recently struck out his petition against President Bola Tinubu.
Abubakar, who contested the February 25 polls under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has asked the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago to expedite the issuance of the order of rights to discovery of Tinubu’s Chicago State University records so that they could be used to file his appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria within the next 21 days.
The outlet reported that after the filing, Atiku’s lawyers, led by Angela Liu, said: “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.
“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.”
The filing is part of his response to 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 recently by a panel of five appellate justices.
But Abubakar remains hopeful that the documents will be vital at Nigeria’s Supreme Court, where his appeal must be filed not later than 21 days from when the tribunal gave its ruling.
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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