The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, has said thatPresident Bola Tinubu cannot use the excuse of privacy law to stop the release of his academic records from the Chicago State University (CSU).
TheHintsNews reports that Tinubu had, amongst other grounds, for the denial of Atiku’s request submitted that Judge Jeffrey Gilbert erred in directing the CSU to release documents bordering on Tinubu’s Diploma certificate, transcripts and admission letter amongst others.
Atiku in his reply to Tinubu’s objection to the order of Magistrate Gilbert, on Wednesday maintained that Tinubu’s objection was incompetent and lacking in merit.
But, the court on September 19 held that Atiku’s application for discovery outweighs Tinubu’s plea for protection under the privacy law.
The former Vice President argued that all the grounds of objections raised by Tinubu against the execution of the lawful order of the magistrate court were resolved by Justice Gilbert after listening to parties.
But Judge Gilbert pointed out that the case of Atiku has merit as it has to do with Tinubu’s qualification for the 2023 presidential election, which he (Tinubu) won.
Dissatisfied, Tinubu last Thursday begging a Federal High Court presided by Judge Nancy Maldonado to delay the enforcement of the order till Monday, September 25, when he would formally file his objection.
At Monday’s proceedings, Tinubu had, amongst others, argued that the granting of the order violates his right to privacy and breached the US law regarding the release of academic records.
Nevertheless, Atiku in his latest move, argued that the law of privacy pleaded by Tinubu to stop the release of his academic records was not relevant in this instance.
Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, in her reply, pointed out that the FERPA and analogous state laws do not create an independent privilege for educational records and cannot serve as a shield against a court-issued subpoena.
He said: “The assertion of a privilege or privacy interest under FERPA is a nonstarter; the statute does not give individuals any enforceable rights”, adding that, “FERPA does not provide a privilege that prevents the disclosure of student records.”
Moreso, Atiku argued that Tinubu cannot plead protection when he “has placed its educational records at issue, ECF 40 at 25-26 (explaining that Intervenor put his diploma at issue by submitting it to INEC and Tinubu’s records have already been introduced into the Nigerian proceedings, including by Tinubu himself, and widely published in the media”.
Stating further that through various proceedings, Tinubu has submitted his own educational records for consideration by courts and indeed by the public, Atiku submitted that Judge Gilbert correctly decided that the balance of the Intel discretionary factors weigh in favor of granting the discovery.