Domestic Analytix: ROCKING THE BOAT – At High Sea

President Bola Tinubu

Kofoworola Bucknor,
former Lagos State
Deputy Governor

David Hundeyin, Journalist

Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate

Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate

Once upon a time, there was a country. The more you looked, the more you understood. Heard no evil, saw no evil, spoke no evil; once in Rome, you do as the Romans.

We now are at high sea, therefore anybody who threatens to rock the boat, with the probable consequence of capsizing the boat, even a little, will be met with a stiff resistance, if need be, with full force.

Quote, we did not say, “President Tinubu had forged a certificate belonging to a female graduate from the Chicago University,” unquote. But with the rumbles and echoes within the valleys, and high shrieks at the mountain tops, both domestic and foreign, we are keen on watching how this too, like many other similar matters, will be swept under the rug.

The boat at high sea, appears to be rocking already. So, who could be held accountable? Whoever enjoins the fight better beware that the battle now has grown beyond just Tinubu, now you have the entire government of newly appointed ministers and heads of agencies to grabble with; these new appointees will not lie low and let the boat capsize, which will mean losing their new appointments.

This certificate matter has a long trail back to the time of Tinubu as governor of Lagos state, wherein, Tinubu allegedly engineered the impeachment of his female deputy, Kofoworola Bucknor, for her attempt to use the fake Chicago University certificate to impeach Tinubu.

Also, during the presidential elections, investigative journalist, David Hundeyin, presented documents that claimed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had submitted fake school documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, during the election. Atiku and Hundeyin are on the same page on certificate forgery.

Tinubu’s defense that Atiku also has a case to answer for “Atiku Kojoli” on his primary school certificate and “Siddiq Abubakar” on his 1965 West African School Certificate and General Certificate of Examination (WASSCE), is not defense at all, rather an acceptance of guilt. Two wrongs cannot make a right. If one is caught with their hand in the till, and they say him too, the one is still a thief, and him too.

In addition, the journalist, Hundeyin also stated that the former Lagos State governor should face a 14-year jail term as the punishment stipulated for perjury under Nigerian laws, for failing in telling the truth of his Guinea Citizenship when filling the form EC9, which is a sworn affidavit: there is a question that asks if the candidate has obtained citizenship of another country. It requires a simple yes or no answer.

"Tinubu clearly ticked 'no'- that he has not acquired citizenship of another country. But there is prima facie evidence that he did acquire citizenship of another country and fairly recently as well. So, he lied under oath, which is perjury”. Peter Obi and David Hundeyin share the same page on integrity.

We are now at t he crossroads, for future reference. It does little to help Nigeria’s international image, already placed under the binoculars for suspicious "419" activities worldwide, to be discovered to be led by a president with forged documents, and without integrity. It took many years until recently, that Nigeria was admitted on the PayPal platform to conduct financial transactions, including the music platform, Sportify, Amazon Web Services, AWS, and a host others yet to make up their mind.

Hard as it may be to swallow the pill, the supreme court judges must rise to the occasion, especially in checking that elected officials do not use government resources in prosecuting court litigations arrayed against them.

Keep away from forged documents.

Keep safe.

________________________________________