By Mohammed Bello Doka
The publication of @officialABAT’s 2027 nomination form by @inecnigeria has once again thrown the nation into a heated debate. His Form EC9 lists only BSc degree from @ChicagoState, while the spaces for primary & secondary school qualifications remain conspicuously blank.
Yet the response from the very voices who once shook the foundations of @asovilladigital with their righteous fury has been nothing short of a masterclass in political somersaulting.
Where are the crusaders now? @renoomokri, who in 2018 spent sleepless nights demanding that Buhari produce his @waecnigeria certificate, who questioned whythe #CInC cld not simply order the military to release his documents, has now personally verified Tinubu’s credentials at @ChicagoState. He has prostrated flat on the ground, apologised to the President, & dismissed all allegations of forgery. His DNA, he insists, hasn’t changed. Only his principles have.
@officialKolaO, who as @OfficialPDPNig National Publicity Secretary in 2018 called the Buhari certificate saga the worst national embarrassment & accused the Presidency of manipulations, forgery & lies, has been conspicuously muted on Tinubu’s blank spaces. The man who once thundered that the attestation lacked an original certificate number & was therefore of no effect now finds absolutely nothing wrong with a president who can’t account for his primary & secondary education.
@OzekhomeMike, who in Jan 2015 filed a suit challenging Buhari’s eligibility for lacking a WAEC certificate, now finds himself on the other side of the courtroom, charged by @NigeriaGov over alleged forgery of documents. The irony writes itself.
@oagbakoba, who in 2018 called the Buhari certificate matter a fairly serious matter that the court would have to interpret, has now called on lawyers & the media to stop the madness & allow @SupremeCourtNg to decide.
And what of the #LagosIbadanMedia, the self-appointed guardians of democratic accountability?
During the Buhari years, they were relentless.
@femiaribisala wrote President Buhari’s Non-Existent School Certificate.
Akin Oladele penned Of Buhari’s Refusal To Attach Certificate.
Editorial boards of @MobilePunch , @vanguardngrnews, & @THISDAYLIVE published front-page demands for Buhari to show his certificate.
Today, those same newspapers have reduced themselves to news reporters, merely quoting opposition politicians like Kalu Kalu & @realkenokonkwo, rather than leading the charge with their own editorial crusades. They’ve bn accused of unmasked hypocrisy & #DoubleStandards in their coverage of the President.
Critics argue that a leader from any other zone wld have faced a media onslaught. Instead, the narrative shifts, the questions soften, & the outrage evaporates.
As one commentator aptly observed, only in #Nigeria can someone be said not to have attended primary or secondary school, yet graduate from a university abroad & those asking questions become the problem.
A graduate from Kano, Lagos, Enugu or Port Harcourt will be denied employment because one certificate is missing.
A civil servant can lose a promotion because of incomplete documentation. Nobody tells them to rely on constitutional interpretation.
The rules are clear for the ordinary Nigerian.
Yet somehow, whenever the discussion concerns the political elite, the rules become elastic. If certificates are important, then they must be important for everybody.
There cannot be one Nigeria for the poor and another for the politically connected. That is not justice. That is privilege disguised as democracy. The nation is watching, & the nation is not amused.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com