by Ayobami Naphtal
Let me make it clear in this first paragraph: The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari, has completely lost the moral rights to hold any public office in Nigeria. Some country where people tolerate dishonesty can have him. But today’s Nigeria has no space for someone with such scale of moral bankruptcy.
For close to one month, General Buhari placed over 170 million Nigerians in heartbreaking suspense over whether or not he had the requisite certificates that should qualify him for election into the office he has desperately sought for close to 20 years now – the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. For a man who has built a reputation for transparency and honesty, General Buhari has wrecked the alter of rectitude he has built over the years and which has drawn people to him.For man who has spent many years in administration, Buhari has of recent demonstrated to Nigerians that “what you see is sometimes not what you get.”
Not too long ago, at the National Assembly, Nigerians were treated to what turned out to be a queer drama where the then Senate President, Evans Enwerem, had questions to answer on what his true identity was. Evans as a name was captured in some documents thought to belong to the the Senate President, but when issues came to a head, it became clear that there were two personalities involved. One was Evans Enwerem while the other was “Evan” Enwerem. It made many people laugh. But it showed also how ingenious Nigerians can be in wriggling out of the holes in the legal process. But that was not the end. Sometime later, James Ibori was being accused of becoming governor of Delta State wrongfully, having allegedly been convicted for stealing some years in the past. But as the matter was about to grow to scandalous heights, another James Onanefe Ibori emerged from nowhere, thereby separating James Ibori the governor from James Ibori the petty thief.
Years have passed and Nigerians seem to have forgotten. We are always so quick to forget. But then, there comes a Buhari with an even more entertaining drama similar to the ones of James and Evan(s). Many Nigerians have come to associate General Buhari with honesty and integrity, two qualities that are scarce commodities among the ranks of Nigerian political leaders. His cult following in the northern part of the country speaks volumes. But then, his delay in releasing his academic qualifications began to punch holes in his well-protected façade of uprightness. It was bad enough that he refused to submit his academic qualifications to the Independent National Electoral Commission. But what is beginning to happen when he eventually released it or caused it to be released, suggests of a man who has a few things to hide. And he is not hiding it well. Back to the Evan/Evans and James Ibori/James Onanefe Ibori narrative, the Government College, Katsina, where Buhari claimed to have studied, released a result that many thought would have saved Buhari from further scandal, but which ultimately may never. First, the person contesting for elections in Nigeria today on the platform of the All Progressives Congress is Muhammadu Buhari. But on the Statement of Result released by this Katsina college, the name written on the statement is: “Mohammed Buhari.”
Even if the two names may mean the same thing, they cannot legally be used to identify the same person. Now also check this: Buhari said when he addressed the press some days ago that he graduated in 1961, with many prominent Nigerians, including General Shehu Yar’Adua, former Chief of Staff at the Supreme Headquarters. But General Shehu Yar’Adua joined the Army in 1959. The question is: was late General Shehu Yar’Adua in Secondary school with Buhari in 1961, two years after he joined the Army? According to the Nigerian Village Square, Shehu Yar’Adua was educated at Katsina Provincial Secondary School and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK. He returned from Sandhurst in 1964 as a young Second Lieutenant not long before the Nigerian Civil War broke out.
There are also many other gaps yearning to be filled in Buhari’s moral scorecard as far as this certificate matter is concerned. In the Statement of Result released by this now popular Katsina College, the result released for Mohamed Buhari (not for MUHAMMADU BUHARI) Shows four credits passed viz: 1. English Language C5 2. Hausa C5 3. Literature in English P7 4. History A3 5. Geography C6 6. Mathematics F9 But if one looks at his army records, Buhari’s form NA 199A suggests he had credits and one pass (English Literature). The subjects in the Army records show Buhari passed these subjects: 1. English Language CREDIT 2. Hausa CREDIT 3. English Literature PASS 4. History CREDIT 5. Health Science CREDIT 6. Geography CREDIT 7. Hausa CREDIT It is not clear who “removed one subject from Buhari’s results, what with the very curious and obvious omission of HEALTH SCIENCE from his result, thus leaving him with only four CREDITS and ONE PASS instead of FIVE CREDITS and ONE PASS as filled in his army enrollment form in 1961. Now this curious one.
I attended secondary school but I do not remember my school attaching a passport photograph in my statement of result. It was not necessary, especially since it was just a statement of result and not a certificate. Even certificates do not carry passport photographs. Putting a passport photo on Buhari’s document was an obvious overkill that has done more damage to his claims than anything else. You see, it is not possible for Buhari to look as old as he looks on this passport back in 1961. The passport makes him look like he was in his 50s or 60s. Buhari was born in 1942. This means that in 1961, he was a mere 19-year-old. Which 19-year-old boy would look as old as the General looks on this passport? I doubt. I very much doubt. In his affidavit, Buhari claimed he did Cambridge. But the statement of result says he did SSCE. I know that a few states in Nigeria, namely Lagos State and the old Anambra State pioneered the Senior Secondary Certificate Exams in 1988. How could Buhari have written SSCE in 1961?
These are very obvious gaps that leave the retired General’s integrity posture in tatters. At this stage in Nigeria’s nationhood, what we need is NOT a man who cannot tell simple truths. Everyone realizes how desperately the country needs to change. But we cannot change from to a man with strong moral question marks around his person and his career.
Ayobami Naphtal is a freelance writer.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
