A former gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, Babatunde Gbadamosi, has urged the Nigerian judiciary to take a cue from its American counterpart on justice dispensation.
Gbadamosi suggested this in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The socio-political commentator was reacting to a suit filed before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar seeking to compel Chicago State University (CSU) to produce the academic records of President Bola Tinubu.
According to Political Economist, the US court shut down moves by Tinubu’s lawyers contesting the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The online newspaper reported that the court established that it has jurisdiction over the matter in accordance with US laws which “authorises any “interested person” to request that a United States District Court order the discovery of documents and testimony for use in a foreign proceeding from persons that “reside[] or [are] found” within its District.”
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The court, according to the report, said Atiku has satisfied all statutory requirements as he is an “interested person”; and the respondent, CSU, is a public university established and existing under the laws of Illinois, with its principal campus and offices in Chicago.
“Having met all requirements, the court said it will not hesitate to grant the prayers of Atiku,” the report further stated.
Reacting in a Tuesday post, Gbadamosi said that the outcome of the case could significantly influence the course of the presidential election petitions in Nigeria.
He said, “In a courtroom in faraway Illinois, USA, an amusing and strange drama is playing out that may well decide the fate of millions of West African soldiers and innocent civilians.
The sitting Prezzdent of Nigeria is almost comically resisting legal efforts to have his academic records at the Chicago State University released. One would have thought someone at that level would be proud to brandish his academic records in the faces of his “hapless” opponents, having “won” the election.
“In Tinubu’s case, he is desperately fighting tooth and nail to NOT have the records released. Evidence already brought into the public domain by the intrepid @DavidHundeyin suggests that he may in fact be a trans-sexual, one of the first in the world.
“In a world now besotted with extreme perversions like “gender-fluidity”, one would have thought that this would earn him serious brownie points with his bosses in a United States government that has made LGBTQP+ evangelism in Africa its top foreign policy priority.
“Again, mysteriously, Tinubu demurs, and is fighting frantically to not have the records released.
“Whatever his reason is, the court has already crossed the first legal hurdle he placed in their path – jurisdiction. Yesterday, they decided that they had jurisdiction over the matter.
“Millions of West Africans, especially in Nigeria and Niger are watching with keen interest, keeping their eyes as much on the American Judiciary as they are on the Nigerian Judiciary.
“I hope the Nigerian Judiciary are watching how justice is dispensed elsewhere because Africa is watching them.”