At some point in his life, the president made some wrong choices that have come back to haunt him; there is no escaping the fact that the scandals around his political career were unforced errors and he must come out clean on this.
Perhaps, those who say politics is a dirty game had Nigeria in mind. Our politicians fight dirty. So, if you have a shady past you want to keep from public scrutiny, stay away from politics because even those you think are your friends would turn out to undo you. That is the lot of President Tinubu. His former cronies who know too much about him now volunteer such information to the opposition.
The difference between Tinubu and those before him like former Speaker Salisu Buhari, Kemi Adeosun, and little Mmeseoma, is that Tinubu is a man of means and very well established. And as they say money answereth all prayers, Tinubu will eventually escape this as he has always done.
Tinubu is president of Nigeria and there is hardly anything anybody can do about it until the Supreme Court says otherwise, so we have to give him all the support he needs to steer the ship of state safely for the betterment of Nigerians and Nigeria. His emergence remains a subject of controversy, but he did not make himself president. INEC pronounced him the winner.
However, the controversy and heated altercations between the parties are, no thanks to Prof. Yakubu Mahmood’s INEC which simply failed to live up to its promises. If INEC boasted that it would replicate what it did with Osun, Edo, Anambra, etc but failed when it mattered most, the presidential election which is more contentious and of a greater and higher stake, then the commission simply dropped the ball and must be ashamed of itself whenever it tries to re-spin the narrative.
INEC’s failure to justify the humongous provisions, in both technology and resources, to make the election less contentious in which case the outcome would be clear to the winner and losers, so whoever emerges winner would simply resume the job of governance without unnecessary distractions.
How INEC, after telling the world of its planned procedures for the election did the very opposite, yet expects the electorate to understand its fool-hardiness, beats one’s imagination.
Be that as it may, the action has since shifted from INEC to the courts, whatever the Supreme Court decides is final. The earlier that is resolved the better for the nation, because the distraction that has come with all of this may be too expensive for the nation.
Going forward, whoever may be the next electoral umpire must come to the inescapable fact that Yakubu’s failure and its consequences are something we must avoid in the future. The nation is torn today along political, ethnic, and other primordial lines because we just refused to avail of the inherent benefit of technology.
Technology has come to ease processes and we have no choice but to embrace it fully, those who want to remain with the old order must stay consigned to the dustbin of history. The future is technology and with the performance of Yakubu, he simply does not belong to that future.
President Tinubu clearly attended the CSU, but it is also true that it is not a mere coincidence from 1999 when he became governor and now he has been dogged by the same controversy around his certificates, his identity, real age, state of origin, etc. That certainly cannot be complimentary to a nation whose reputation has been blighted by corruption and all other manner of fraud.
How is it that in 1999 he filled in Government College Ibadan as his secondary school, only for him to withdraw this after so many controversies trailed that claim, and then in filing his form to the same INEC for the 2023 presidential election he left out both his primary and secondary schools blank? At what point did he now attend Government College in Lagos which he filed while seeking admission in CSU? How did he also claim to have finished at Government College Lagos in 1970 when the school was only established in 1974?
It is appalling that we keep lowering the standards for our leaders to such ridiculous levels that it appears that laws, rules, and standards are only there for the ordinary people. When former President Muhammadu Buhari lied that he had his school certificates with the Nigerian Army and the Army denied that, some shameless Nigerians told us that his experience would suffice and that even if he presented a utility bill that should be enough.
When the heat would not die down they made officials of the West African Examination Council do home delivery for Buhari. That was how low we went and he went away with it. The truth is that all it takes to be president of this country is just the ability to read and write. Yet to be a banker, a job that at the height of its glory was done by school certificate holders, the banks now insist on first-class graduates. And as if to satisfy the urge for first class, some private universities are beginning to churn out first class graduates like it is going out of fashion. Is it not strange?
Former Vice President Abubakar Atiku should not be condemned for expending his personal resources to settle what has remained a mystery to Nigerians. If after it all his allegations turn out to be false, it should bury the issue and free Tinubu of allegations that have trailed him all his political life. I do not support the belief that because a crime happened a long time ago, therefore, it should not be investigated.
It is in this light that I find the position of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Atiku as disappointing. The party in a statement by Felix Morka, its National Publicity Secretary, summed up the legal challenge launched by Atiku to be propelled by a deep-seated animosity that the former Vice President habours against Tinubu.
The office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the occupant of that office must be open to public scrutiny. The occupant’s place of origin, religion or tribe must remain inconsequential when an issue concerning fraud is alleged.
Already, Nigerians are collectively being treated with disdain and dismissed as scammers around the world. At airports or other points of entry, they are screened differently; they are looked on with suspicion. To make matters worse, some of our youths are now engaging in scams because it no longer matters how anybody makes his fortune.
So, rather than blame Atiku, the blame is on Tinubu who may have made some decisions in the past that created room for this. Atiku himself is not a saint, therefore, for seeking to be president of Nigeria, he too must be subjected to intensive scrutiny.
Last week, the Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Olukayode Ariwoola (Snr), following the National Judicial Council recommendations, swore in Justice Olukayode Ariwoola Jnr, his son, as a Judge of the Federal High Court.
The recommendation was made at the 103rd meeting of the council presided over by the CJN in Abuja. Ariwoola Jnr was recommended for the Federal High Court bench along with 22 others who passed the screening and interview of the council.
It is easy for some who see nothing wrong with this appointment, if as they often argue, it was merited, but how can anybody talk of merit when a father is supposed to examine his son? It’s a burden the CJN will not stop explaining. Can the CJN also tell us that his son is more qualified than several others who are denied these opportunities because they are not connected or have as they say Abraham for father? Can those who support this naked case of nepotism and favoritism tell us that all those judges both retired and serving who have been securing such appointments for their children have merit as the primary consideration for their action?
Former Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Professor Itsay Sagay, in his reaction, had summed it up succinctly when he said, “Sons and daughters of retired and serving judges and justices are being nominated for appointment into sensitive judicial positions at the expense of more qualified candidates without privileged support and backing.”
He said the trend, which placed emphasis on favouritism/nepotism over competence, was a pathway to future judicial malfeasance and miscarriage of justice. He urged Nigerians and other stakeholders in the fight against corruption to halt this malpractice now so as to save the nation from grave deterioration in our judicial system.
Need we say more? If this were happening in an institution that has risen above board, then it probably may have escaped the outcry that the action of the CJN attracted. It’s without doubt that the reason the many challenges that confront this country seem insurmountable is because the judiciary had not been there to dispense justice without fear or favour. The day it begins to do this, the nation will be better for it.
