As reactions continue to trail the non-submission of General Muhammadu Buhari’s academic certificates to INEC for the forthcoming elections, the allegation that the APC presidential candidate lacks the requisite academic qualification to seek the presidency is, true or not, most embarrassing to Buhari and the entire country. Coming amidst the lingering controversy between Buhari and the army, which claims to have no records of his academic attainments, the scandal is a national tragedy of great magnitude. Not only has the country been brought low, the army where Buhari rose to the rank of Major General; before becoming a military Head of State is now an object of ridicule. Quite naturally, there are pros and cons in the debate, which ultimately may never be resolved fully, even if Buhari presents his certificates, because some will question their authenticity, while others will question why it took him so long to address an otherwise important issue with a direct bearing on the 2015 presidential election.
It is just as well that INEC has refused to be drawn into the controversy, because the electoral act doesn’t give INEC the right to insist on provision of academic certificates. The 1999 constitution in Chapter V1 Part 1: Art. 131 (d) stipulates that anyone seeking the presidency must be educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent, but the Supreme Court in various pronouncements has specified that the ability to read and write was all that entitled a citizen to contest any election. It is obvious INEC is not empowered to disqualify a candidate presented by a political party; therefore, there is no way Buhari can be disqualified from contesting the February 14, 2015 election. The option open to anyone who feels strongly about the issue is to go to court. INEC published the candidates’ documents to enable those with claims and objections to proceed with them.
The PDP alleged Buhari did not possess the requisite qualification to contest the presidency, claiming he submitted a sworn affidavit to INEC, rather than the original of his certificates. Buhari apparently directed queries to that effect to the army, which came out to deny keeping original certificates of its officers, stressing that officers’ file contains only photocopy of their credentials. INEC has refused to react to the army’s comments that it was not in possession of Buhari’s original certificate. INEC Press Secretary, Kayode Idowu, sought without conviction, to exculpate the commission of any involvement in the matter. He urged that INEC be left out of the controversy, adding that its duty is to organize free, fair and credible elections.
INEC’s explanation is somewhat belated, and altogether tepid. It did very little to assuage wide spread belief that the entire transaction is bereft of transparency and due process. If anything, Nigerians deserve to know the certificates Buhari submitted before he was cleared to contest the presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011, when he ran on the platforms of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Buhari has said that the certificate saga was cheap blackmail to ridicule him and sabotage his quest to wrest power from incumbent President Jonathan. He claimed the Army was merely acting a script for the incumbent commander-in-chief.
These charges of aiding and abetting Jonathan’s quest for partisan advantage are totally not unfounded. The politicization of the army has seen the army chief-of-staff in the sycophantic glare of politics, with veiled threats to opposition leaders. Certainly, this is not in the national interest. Keen observers would not fail to notice that the certificate scandal is the latest in a pattern of blistering attacks by the PDP against the APC ticket of Buhari and Osinbajo. In Buhari’s case, the PDP described his choice as an error, as if Buhari was going to contest on its platform, while in Osinbajo, the PDP faulted the selection process and those it felt facilitated it.
This begs the question: what certificate did Buhari present for the previous three times when he contested and lost the presidency? The other question is: why is the PDP concerned about the process and the choice of its rivals? Is this a sign of panic? Unless credible answers are provided for these posers, it would appear the army and its garrulous chief of staff, and the entire nation are complicit in this show of shame. Indeed, it is a collective shame on all Nigerians that a man, who served as our Head of State would now have to be ridiculed in this manner. Jonathan as an incumbent should be running on his record. Using the army as a special purpose vehicle to gain political mileage is an abuse of incumbency, which is unacceptable, contemptible and a disservice to the Nigerian people.
But Nigerians are not fooled. Calculating from the 2011 presidential election, it is obvious Buhari and the APC are clear favorites. In 2011, Jonathan defeated Buhari winning 22,495,187 votes (58.89%) as against Buhari’s 12,214,853 (31.98%). Jonathan won 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory-Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers and Taraba. He also got the mandatory 25% of the votes in Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara as stipulated in section 133(b) of the 1999 constitution.
On the other hand, Buhari won 13 states -Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. He equally got 25% of the votes in Adamawa, FCT, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba. From defections and counter-defections of governors, who run the states, Jonathan (PDP) initially lost five states-Adamawa, Imo, Kano, Kwara and Rivers to Buhari (APC). But the PDP regained Adamawa, and added Ekiti (after the June 21, 2014 gubernatorial election) and Ondo (following defection of Gov. Olusegun Mimiko from the Labour Party to the PDP. All things being equal, the PDP and Jonathan may lose substantial votes in Rivers and Imo should they vote for the APC and Buhari. In 2011, Imo and Rivers gave Jonathan 1,381,357 and 1,817,762 votes respectively, while Buhari won a paltry 7,591 and 13,182 votes in the states.
In 2015, Buhari now has eight APC states of Edo, Imo, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun and Oyo plus the 13 states that voted for him in 2011. Barring any major upset, he and the APC are poised to win 21 states, leaving only 15 states for Jonathan and the PDP. This new electoral permutation is giving the PDP anxious moments; hence the desperation to discredit and stop Buhari. Isn’t it alarming that instead of proffering solutions to the myriad of problems confronting the country, the PDP is distracting voters with trivialities? Whichever party wins, Nigerians want to know for example; will they abolish the grossly unpopular governors’ security votes and immunity from prosecution or prune lawmakers’ jumbo pay? Will they build local refineries and eradicate the bogey of fuel subsidy? Will they reduce the cost of governance? Nigeria’s security challenges and poor economic performance and pervasive poverty call for rigorous policy plans from contenders for political offices in 2015. Nigerians should not accept any lamentations or excuses about how bad things are, and how they will take forever to resolve.
The unfolding politics of 2015 shows Nigerian politicians are just preparing for another power grab. Notwithstanding the systemic decadence and increasing mediocrity in the nation’s governance institutions, the president must lead the way in rising above pettiness and embrace decorum as the most basic lesson not just on how power is won, but also how it is accounted for. Nigerians deserve and should demand much better than identity politics and vague promises. Beyond that, Jonathan and the PDP must understand that a good salesman does not sell his goods by knocking off his competitors. Forget Buhari’s certificate; let Nigerians, to whom the government belongs have the ultimate say, in who leads them over the next four years.
