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Finally, Nigerians have a definite date from the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) for pronouncement on the 2023 presidential election. High time. September 16, 2023, the date the tribunal has chosen to give its judgment is indeed the last date it has, under the Constitution, to give its judgment.
By choosing to give its judgment on the very last date allowed it by the law to come forth with his decision, the impression that the tribunal creates in the mind of many is that were it to have a further leeway, it would still have tarried longer. That would not be very healthy for justice and for country. Thank God, therefore, for constitutional provisions. Tough though the assignment may be for the tribunal, the country needs to face the truth and move on. History beckons the judges to acquit themselves to the best of their calling and integrity.
Indeed, following the adoption by parties to the contention before the tribunal of their final addresses in late July, the judgment date has continued to be waited with both hope and apprehension. Expectedly, all eyes have been on the tribunal or the judiciary since the contenders closed their submissions.
Interestingly, the expression “All eyes on the judiciary” has gone viral in recent weeks, giving vent to the hope in many Nigerians that the judiciary will stand up for truth and justice, wherever those may lodge. Somehow, interestingly too, state authorities seemed very uncomfortable with the “All eyes on the judiciary” phrase. For the authorities, the phrase appeared to be a loaded message that put the judges under pressure – to do the right thing, it must be added. Anyway, the billboards had to go. Even at that, all eyes remain on the judiciary.
The 2023 general election left Nigeria with multiple impairments, the likes the country has never suffered previously and will not easily recover from. The victims are many. There is no doubt, for one, that the Election Management Body [EMB] would wish that the annals of elections in Nigeria record it in a better light than what the 2023 elections captured. Unfortunately, while the election tribunal can adjudicate, affirm or adjust the outcome of an election, there is little it can do about public perception of the integrity of an entity of a public institution.
If the damage done to Nigeria by the 2023 elections stopped only with what some whimsically referred to as matters of balloting and counting of ballots, the harm would have been bearable. The greater damage had to do with the assault on the values, the ethics and the fabrics of integrity that sustain every society.
Last weekend, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the yet to be settled 2023 elections, raised an issue he said has left him confused. In truth, what Atiku raised and what he is vigorously trying to unravel in the courts in United States of America (USA) should be of interest and concern to Nigerians, beyond the realm of electoral dispute.
Communicating through his Twitter handle, the former VP expressed utter perplexity at the twists and turns in Bola Tinubu’s profile and credentials. He wrote: “I woke up this morning wondering how we got to this cul de sac. In 1999, @officialBAT (Bola Tinubu) claimed he attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloye, Lagos, before proceeding to Children’s Home School in Ibadan. According to him, his next port of call in his educational journey was Government College Ibadan and Richard Daley College and Chicago State University in the United States. Curiously, in 2023, Tinubu settled with attending @Chicagostate. I am scratching my head. How is that possible? Methinks that all well-meaning Nigerians should be as confused as I am with Tinubu’s declaration that he had no primary and secondary education, yet he has a university degree. You may wish to #AskTinubu how he attained this feat so that we can learn from his ingenuity.”
Of course, Atiku is still in court in USA trying to find the answer to the puzzle. He is also at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal trying to prove that the outcome of the 2023 presidential election that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) called did not reflect the will of Nigerians. Against the backdrop of these cases, any notion, especially from the Tinubu corner, that Atiku is still in the election contention mode can be understood.
Maybe he is. He has, however, raised an issue that ought to arrest the concern and curiosity of all Nigerians, among them religious leaders, administrators of educational institutions, corporate bodies, government agencies and all.
Instead of arguing, as the Tinubu side are presently doing, that what Atiku is raising has nothing to do with the presidential election case, they should step up and find a way to contend and show that there is no substance in the issue raised. Of course, the matter of who or what Tinubu truly is has always been on the table of public discourse in Nigeria. But now the stakes have been raised higher. Tinubu is presenting operating as President of Nigeria. He may well continue in that station or relinquish it, based on what the PEPT rules. Whatever the case, there is need now to know where he is coming from and how he got here.
When Atiku said Tinubu should tell us “how he attained this feat (of passing through a university without attending a known secondary or primary school) so that we can learn from his ingenuity,” the weight of his question is not lost in his cutting sarcasm. Tinubu and his side need to find an explanation.
The danger in allowing this matter to pass, as a section of Nigerians seem inclined to, on political basis, is that the Nigerian society cannot have the moral courage to disturb any person caught in identity theft or examination/admission cheating. Already, the matter in Enugu State involving the declared governor, Peter Mbah, is also staring the society and the election petition tribunal in the face. A character from the Department of State Security (DSS) coming forward to declare that his investigation has proved that the governor was rightly issued a certificate of exemption by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), when that agency, speaking through its chief executive, has told the public that NYSC issued no such exemption, simply shows the road the Nigerian society is taking in addressing issues bordering on dishonesty and sundry sharp practices. Can any society ever renew itself going this way?
Maybe Tinubu did some correspondence colleges? Maybe he studied for primary and secondary school at home. Maybe. But a President of Nigeria simply needs to provide some records of his life.
It is one of those absurdities of Nigeria that nobody can be a director in public office without having a degree or its equivalent, but all that is required to become a governor or President is a secondary school certificate. Now, even that one is in contention. Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate was never cited. He said it was with Army Records. It remained there till he left office as President. Tinubu must not follow Buhari in every sense and conduct.
