Opinion
Presidency: Supreme Court to the test, By Emma Nwosu
“Conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it” – Othman dan Fodio.
The Supreme Court is on trial. President Bola Tinubu – arguably, the greatest strategist of this generation of predatory politicians – had the presidency as life ambition and did everything to grab it. Now that traces of fraud have been discovered in his credentials and identity (going by the depositions of the Chicago State University) in addition to the mayhem and the subversion of the Constitution and the 2022 Electoral Act in the February 25, 2023 presidential election by which he came to power, should he still occupy that position, when the greatest need of the country is moral re-armament?
That is the question, which should not be parried by technicalities. Law is made for man, not man for the law! Vox populi, vox Dei.
Law must anchor on social justice. It must checkmate the powerful and the predator for the weak and under-privileged, otherwise, society would descend into the state of nature, which is nasty, brutish and short, as described by Thomas Hobbes in his book, “ The Leviathan”. Without justice, there can be no peace and without peace there can be no development. The famed Social Contract would then stand defeated, which has been the lot of Nigeria of recent.
The issue with Tinubu’s credentials is not whether he attended the Chicago State University (CSU) or not, as being parried by his apologists and acolytes. It is how he got there, whether or not he did graduate and, above all, the source of the certificate he presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The CSU has disowned the degree certificate Tinubu presented for the 2023 presidential election, under oath. Tinubu lied that he attended Government College, Lagos and graduated in 1970 (before the school was established in 1974) and passed the A’ Level examination in science subjects but was, ironically, admitted to a community college for accountancy! And he putatively graduated from CSU without curing the defect in the prerequisites of English Language and mathematics, which is untenable in the American Credit Course system.
INEC admitted this “hanging” degree, which is not backed by an O’Level or A’Level certificate – a glaring defect, which should have been interrogated (even if INEC had no responsibility to verify certificates) if there was no collusion.
The scandal does not end with the apparently forged academic records. There are issues of identity theft, inconsistent age declaration and drug money laundering for which he forfeited USD460,000 in the United States. Also, Tinubu had always been called out by concerned citizens – from Chief Gani Fawehinmi to Festus Keyamo (yes, the same Keyamo) and David Hundeyin, among others.
It is said that by the time a woman stumbles more than once, the contents of her basket would have been fully counted. While every day may be for the thief, there will always be one day for the owner of the house. Tinubu has been stumbling while the universe has been counting. After years of artful dodging, he has finally been demystified and de-robed to the world. “How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished” (2 Samuel 1: 27)
Gagging Nigerians to wait for the Supreme Court to tell them what lying on oath and forgery mean – despite precedents, the CSU depositions and our Constitution – amounts to begging the question. It is like asking for the candle to see in daylight!
Regardless of what the Supreme Court might say, the bull has escaped from the stable. The harm has already been done.
There is nothing that any broadcasting house or the assemblage of propaganda teams and brain-washers can do to put fallen Humpty Dumpty together again. The conspiracy of silence by the dominant axis of Nigerian activists and mass media is also of no avail – not when the ones with conscience (in the Omoluabi tradition of the Yoruba) have broken ranks vociferously on the side of truth and egalitarian justice.
Tinubu and Nigeria will suffer the consequences of the sordid scandal for a long time – if he does not vacate the presidency soon. And, once his clan consolidates power, it would become impossible for men of virtue to emerge and our tottering democracy sustained, and our country would descend into perdition.
Morning shows the day. There is, already, an astronomical rise in misery and despondency among the people, arising from undigested policies that have no regard for them. While members of the oligarchy (in the ruling party and in the executive, legislature and judiciary, along with their children and surrogates) get all they want in a jiffy, not even the minimum wage has been increased for workers, not to talk of an effective relief package for the populace in the aftermath of fuel and exchange rate subsidy removal.
Appointment to all arms of the public service is also monopolized by the same predators and their over-pampered children and surrogates, in the pursuit of the deadly closed system and incestuous succession plan, while the more qualified, more deserving and eager but underprivileged and disconsolate citizens roam helplessly. A society, which cannot renew itself, by healthy competition, is bound to perish.
Our leaders must note that, from all fronts, Nigeria is at that “yield point” at which citizens would take collective action to save the country. It seems that they are only waiting to see if the Supreme Court (a policy Court) would ignore or redefine forgery, identity theft and perjury or fail to admit evidence that was not available at the lower tribunal, despite the latitude it has.
They are waiting to see whether the Supreme Court would add insult to injury by aligning with the Court of Appeal to ignore all the perceived subversion of the Constitution and the 2022 Electoral Act, as well as the mayhem and the apparently selective and intentional disruption of real time transmission of polling unit data (against the run of votes) in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
It is not all about Tinubu as a person. It is about what is desirable for Nigeria!
