It is doubtful that Nigeria and Nigerians have ever been embarrassed as much as by the alarming revelation from the Chicago State University Illinois about the academic credentials of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s sixteenth President.
According to the depositions made by the University, the Certificate submitted by the President today that he attended the University was at best forged.
The siege really took shape as from March 1, 2023, when the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) announced Tinubu as president of the country. But it actually started months before when it was confirmed that he would vie for the country’s highest office.
There is perhaps no candidate, and consequently no Nigerian president, who has been vilified as much as he has in the history of Nigeria.
His detractors point to the opaque sources of his staggering wealth and the shadows cast long by his personal and educational history.
On his way to become Nigeria’s president, he has weathered many storms. In the face of so many rocks thrown his way, he has shown extraordinary stoicism.
To be clear, many things that have been said about him until now, have been without any concrete evidence, much like every popular news in Nigeria. Until now.
Following a chastening defeat at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal(PEPT) on September 6, Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the polls, filed an appeal at the Supreme Court. However, that was not all.
Atiku also ramped up efforts to uncover Tinubu’s educational past or lack of it at the Chicago State University, as there had been allegations of forgery.
Many Nigerians would have been forgiven for putting Atiku’s attempts in the United States down to the gasps of a drowning man, before October 4,2023.
On that day, in obedience to the order of United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The university first released the copy of the certificate before its officials made depositions which were conclusive that the certificate the president submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission did not emanate from it. In other words, it was forged.
The revelation has resounded across Nigeria, with all eyes now on the Supreme Court.
The discovery in faraway Chicago continues Tinubu’s long battle to muster even a modicum of legitimacy according to Nigerians.
He has been president of the country since May 29, 2023, but an overwhelming number of Nigerians believe his presidency was the product of unforgivable irregularities. Allegations of widespread irregularities that should have invalidated the election may have met a brick wall at the PEPT, but they remain firmly embedded in the minds of many Nigerians where crucially, legitimacy or illegitimacy, is born as the case may be.
If the polls that produced him were keenly contested and have since been hotly disputed, his personal history which would embrace his provenance and educational background has faced ceaseless scrutiny ever since he pushed into the public eye as governor of Lagos State in 1999.
The man who Nigerians are now being forced to call their president has always been somewhat of an enigma. For example, many Nigerians cannot easily point out what he does for a living outside politics, that points out his staggering wealth.
The only ready explanation Is politics. In a country where political corruption continues to ruin many lives, it should be unthinkable that Nigeria should have in office a president whose personal wealth is most likely the proceeds of corruption.
With the discovery that Nigeria’s Commander-in- Chief may now also be its forger-in-chief, it is not immediately farfetched to say that Nigeria is a country awash in forged certificates, fakes, frauds, forgers and all else that is rotten.
Earlier this year when the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) fought back to expose the forgery of a candidate from Anambra State who had forged her result to supposedly emerge the best student in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, many were horrified but not surprised.
It Is a well-known fact that many Nigerian politicians forge certificates to get into political offices. But it is not the preserve of politicians alone. Many Nigerians who are not politicians are also into the business of forging documents. Whether to get unreserved opportunities, or gain undue advantage, many Nigerians have somehow mastered the art of forgery.
The limitations of law enforcement in the country are well documented, as are the shortcomings of the judiciary. So, most of those who forge documents get away with it, leaving an entire country grappling with a crisis of credibility, locally and internationally.
Now, in addition to its problems at home, and battered image abroad, Nigeria also has to deal with this new export of embarrassment the president is churning out.
But his aides would defend him as they should. Those who are not repulsed by the stench of rot wafting out of Nigeria are already defending him.
As his aides, and in his aid, they will pull out every tool they can find in their toolkit of treachery. They may even say that there is an international conspiracy championed by the United States to unseat the president.
Nothing is beyond them. Nothing can possibly desecrate or distract from their desperation.
But, while Nigerians wait for the proceedings and judgment of the Supreme Court, history instructs a country whose moral compass is severely malfunctioning.
If things continue like this, there will be nothing left for posterity except a country sucked dry and hung out to dry.
Kene Obiezu,
The post Nigeria Festival Of Forgery -By Kene Obiezu first appeared on Opinion Nigeria.
