Reuben Abati
The number of persons involved in certificate scandals under the
Buhari administration may speak to something far deeper in our society,
even beyond the administration, but it is to say the least, disgraceful
and embarrassing.
Ordinarily considered some of the best educated black persons in
the world – one US report indicates that Nigerians are among the most
educated immigrants in the United States, vertically and horizontally –
it is now shameful that Nigerians today are also ironically
poster-characters for fake certificates, 419 qualifications, and dubious
academic affiliations. This whole saga started, this time, with the
President himself whose school certificate qualification became an issue
of much speculation and histrionics. The Constitution requires any
office-seeker in Nigeria to have the minimum of a secondary education.
You are required to go to school till about the age of 16: extremely
small education in my reckoning but good enough to enable you read and
write, and be able to sign documents.
The focus on this President’s educational qualification, and the
opaqueness that grew around the matter ended up motivating nosey-parkers
to begin to look for certificates in the corridors of power, including
certificates of participation in the National Youth Service Corps. One
of these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if investigators begin to turn
their searchlights on birth certificates! In the past, we had the
Chicago scandal, we also had the Toronto scandal, today we are a country
of too many “Chicagos” and “Torontos.” You will recall that Ms. Kemi
Adeosun was accused of dodging the compulsory one-year national service
for higher institution graduates.
She was pushed to resign her exalted office as Minister of Finance,
but her case served the country well in the long run: it brought up
issues of citizenship and the value or non-value of the NYSC. Ms.
Adeosun would probably be remembered more in Nigerian history for the
manner in which her example generated a conversation around the rights
and citizenship of Nigerians in diaspora, their relationship with their
ancestral country, the character of supposedly “trusted associates”, and
the long-term relevance of the National Service scheme in a country
where there is very little service but a greater obsession with self,
entitlement and gratification.
Ms. Adeosun has since moved on and Nigerians have left her alone.
But there is still the unresolved matter of Okoi Obono-Obla, the
President’s Special Adviser on Corruption. He has been accused by a
Committee of the House of Representatives of parading a doctored school
certificate result. They argue that the School Certificate Result that
he holds does not belong to him but to a dead cousin. And that he used
that certificate to gain admission to the University of Jos where he
studied law. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the examining
authority that should know the truth has also allegedly said that there
is something fishy about the certificate in question. In Okoi
Obono-Obla’s case, I am a bit confused.
As Chairman, Editorial Board and Editorial Page Editor of The
Guardian newspapers for more than 10 years, I published opinion pieces,
letters to the editor and essays from a certain Okoi Obono-Obla which
were always very well written, well-made pieces, and fit for
publication. Not one piece from that Okoi Obono-Obla’s sounded like
something written by a man who needed to dodge a WAEC examination.
Obono-Obla’s response to the current allegations is that the matter is
already in court and that this is a case of “corruption fighting back”
but whatever the truth is, and it is the duty of the court to determine
that, the Obono-Obla case makes the Buhari government look really bad.
It reinforces a growing narrative that there are too many persons in
high places who cannot defend what they claim they are, under a
government that flies integrity as a proof of innocence and virginity.
And there is Adebayo Shittu, the voluble, bearded Minister of
Communications – the guy didn’t participate in the National Youth
Service Corps. Ms Adeosun’s defenders talked about citizenship and her
betrayal by “trusted associates”. They put up a spirited defence for
her. In Adebayo Shittu’s case, the guy has the stupid effrontery to
come forward to say that he did not enroll for the NYSC because he
thought his membership of the Oyo State House of Assembly was the
equivalent of a National service. I have heard a lot of stupid comments
in my short life-time but this certainly must be the worst of them all.
To worsen matters further, Shittu is said to be a lawyer, duly called
to the Nigerian Bar. And he talks like that? Too many of this type are
all over the place defending illegalities, and yet they would be the
first to tell you I am a Barrister even when every year at Call to Bar
ceremonies, fresh wigs are advised not to go about threatening people
with the redundant title of Barrister this and Barrister that. The APC
has had cause to disqualify Adebayo Shittu from participating in the APC
Governorship primaries in Oyo State. Good for him. He has also been
quoted as saying he is now ready to enroll for the NYSC. As the Yoruba
will say: “Igbayi laaro”. In pidgin: “na now him just dey realize say
NYSC important?” In street talk: “commot there, no dey talk nonsense”.
The NYSC Act is very clear. It needs no golden interpretation. Shittu
has committed a felony. He has convicted himself with his own mouth. He
has raised further questions about the administration’s commitment to
the rule of law.
There is also the case of the Governor of Adamawa state, Jibrilla
Bindow, who has been accused of forging his school certificate
qualification. Bindow is seeking a second term as Governor of Adamawa
state. His opponents, principally named Global Integrity and Crusade
Network (GICN) have now chosen to tell us that the man did not even
complete secondary school. They have given WAEC an ultimatum to tell
Nigerians whether or not Bindow who had served previously as Senator of
the Federal Republic, has a Secondary School Certificate in accordance
with the laws of the land. They claim he has not been able to make any
difference as Governor because he is a secondary school drop-out.
But surely, it is not only the ruling All Progressives Congress
that has this problem. Senator Ademola Adeleke, the Governor the people
of Osun state wanted but the APC blocked, also obviously has issues
with his academic qualifications. They say the man did not have a School
Certificate. WAEC confirmed he had one. Then the Police accused him of
having sat for the 2017 National Examination Council Examination (NECO)
via a proxy. What we remember though is that he allegedly had an F9 in
the School Certificate Examination. He didn’t deny that and yet he
wanted to be Governor! Under President Buhari, Nigeria is at the level
of F9 and fake certificates.
Let me nail this down. These stories, either from the APC or PDP or
any other side do not help Nigeria’s image. I imagine that if any
Nigerian were to go anywhere in the world today, and present the best,
most impressive credentials, the relevant authorities would still go
behind to double-check. Many of our students today who go abroad for
additional educational opportunities are routinely asked to take extra
tests that candidates from other countries are not required to take.
When the rest of the world hears that Nigerian political leaders, the
same persons who are supposed to take serious decisions about national,
bilateral and multilateral relations are a bunch of semi-illiterates,
draft dodgers, and uneducated semi-illiterates, they are bound to look
at the rest of us as imbeciles. Japan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia,
Singapore, Bangladesh and the United States have some of the best
educated persons in the world. Every serious country promotes its best
people. In Nigeria we promote the worst of the pack in a country where
there are more than enough people with credible qualifications. We
don’t’ recognize such people. Instead we send to the international
community, people who could not pass School certificate, the equivalent
of the IGSCE in the United Kingdom, school drop-outs who have no clue
about important governance issues – these are the ones we send out to go
engage better educated and more enlightened persons.
In the end, the Buhari government prefers to take its time to
respond to this issue that has become a major issue of his time as
President. It may be said that President Buhari is a bad judge of
character – he should never have associated with or recruited all these
characters giving him problems in the first place, but how about the
institutions whose job it is to screen political appointees and every
other person in the public sphere? Senator Abiola Ajimobi has been
Governor of Oyo State for two terms but I understand someone is also
saying he too, does not have an NYSC certificate. If he has an NYSC
certificate, he should display it right-away and put his accusers to
shame. I really don’t understand what is going on. What is the meaning
of this certificate problem in a country where there are people who can
put every needed certificate on the table and yet they are the ones who
are unemployed and the one who have issues are the ones running
government? The relevant security agencies continue to disappoint the
country and a lot of political crises are generated in part because the
security agencies are politically compromised. Nobody can aspire to
public office in Nigeria except they have been screened by the security
agencies. What happened to that process under President Buhari’s watch?
For, the forgery of school certificates is a form of corruption. I
am saying that certificate scandal is the worst form of corruption.
Right now, our political representatives are no longer respected abroad
Who wants to talk to a diplomat whose basic education is uncertain?
Who wants to take a country seriously where a state Governor says “We
works” instead of “We worked”. And you have a President who is very
comfortable with all of these?
President Buhari needs to clean up his cabinet, do a complete
audit. He should appeal to all the men who have certificate problems in
his cabinet to do him a favour and ship out voluntarily. I won’t be
surprised if the same investigative journalists who ousted the cases
mentioned have even more scandalous examples in their file and may
release bigger blows in the day ahead. Who are these people? Common
certificate they don’t even have and they want to rule Nigeria! The
diplomats serving in Nigeria must be laughing at us in the dispatches
they send home.
The President has a responsibility to act on all of these cases, to
determine the credibility of these allegations and to prove that his
government is sincere about the anti-corruption campaign across all
genres.
II: Ambode vs. Tinubu
After two postponements, the All Progressives Congress (APC)
Party’s Governorship Primary will hopefully hold at least, in Lagos
today, October 2. The Godfather of Lagos APC politics, if you are truly
partisan, you can delete APC and say Asiwaju Bola Tinubu – effectively
dominates all of Lagos politically, and has publicly declared that
whereas the incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode wants a second term in
office, he, the Godfather and the party leaders no longer want him.
Ambode’s crime as stated, for more than two weeks is that he has
refused to carry relevant stakeholders “along”, whatever that means. The
godfather changed the narrative on Sunday when he disclosed that
Ambode’s crime is that he failed to implement a “blueprint” for the
development of the state. Ambode is fighting back. He called a World
Press Conference and called Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the consensus candidate
who has been handpicked to replace him, names.
When this crisis occurred, Ambode who was brought to power by
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu begged his godfather and benefactor. He was
ignored. Ambode’s wife also went before the grandmaster of APC politics
in Lagos State. She was treated politely and dismissed. Sanwo-olu has
the support of 36 members of the State House of Assembly, all local
Government chairmen and chairmen of Local Development Council Areas,
party leaders, and Lagos APC members in the National Assembly. Ambode
has only the support of local councilors and a segment of public
opinion. From the look of things, Ambode as they say, is a “goner”.
But that is not the story. The story is that after all the begging
and genuflection, Ambode is now standing up for a fight. On Sunday at a
World Press Conference, he pulled off his gloves and resolved to engage
in a bare-knuckle fight. He accused his opponent, the Asiwaju camp’s
candidate of fraud, incompetence and incapability. Sanwo-Olu has refused
to respond in like directly, except may be through proxies, knowing
clearly that he still serves in the government of the same man whose
office he wants to take. If Sanwo-Olu is so bad, why is Ambode still
retaining him as Managing Director of the Lagos State Development and
Property Corporation (LSDPC)? But of course, the fight is not between
the two of them, it is between Ambode and Tinubu. Tinubu accuses him of
abandoning a blueprint. Who are the authors of that blueprint? Is it a
constitutional matter that a Governor must be held hostage by a document
prepared long before he assumed office? What is the content of that
blueprint, if the rest of us may ask?
I like the fight between Godfather and Godson. There will be no
winners at the end of the day. There will only be losers on both sides.
One, the Ambode saga has already exposed Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s
vulnerability. His political legacy is at stake. Ambode, having been
pushed to the wall has become the underdog who is ready to shake the
table. He has pushed the table. Two, Ambode is fighting the battle of
his political life. If he defeats Tinubu, he would have re-made himself
into a political force. If he loses, he would still have succeeded in
exposing the evil of the Godfather syndrome in Nigerian politics. His
travails may end up turning him into a hero. Three: nobody is talking
about us: we the people, in this entire equation. We know that. Four,
whatever happens in Lagos has implications for President Muhammadu
Buhari’s fortune in the general elections of 2019.
Lagos, not Osun, is the ultimate test for President Buhari’s
chances in 2019. But let’s thank Ambode for shaking the table. Whether
or not he wins today is not the issue. It is what comes the day after.
We wait.