For many months, some vested interest groups, on realizing the imminent possibility of a successful Barack Obama candidacy for the presidency of the United States, sponsored the throwing of different arrows to puncture same. They either claimed that he was not a bona fide US citizen or was a Muslim, Kenyan or Indonesian or such inanities. Obama refused to answer those ‘issues’ and it was from him I first heard the phrase ‘silly season’ – meaning (in my view) the ‘hot’ period leading up to an election where people get so confused by a myriad of issues and personalities, that they will rather ‘cool off’ and enjoy more salacious jibes and mudslinging. In Nigeria there is no shortage of supplies of arrows and it will appear that even President Goodluck Jonathan whilst he detests ‘opposition’ and social media arrows, has his own arsenal and now fancies throwing a few himself. The problem with throwing arrows is that if an arrow is blunt no matter how poisoned or poisonous the thrower is, the target will suffer at most minor bruises and at times a backfiring may occur. Another problem I see is that Buhari like Obama being of similar frame provide very slim targets and often even the blunt arrow will miss the target!
So an angry president in a fit of rhetorical soap box excitability, hollers– ‘when “they” were there how many rifles did ‘they’ buy for the military? ‘they did not buy even a single rifle!’ Does it mean that our President is of the considered view that a stock of rifles bought 30 years ago would have solved the insecurity problem? The criticism of the President on this matter goes beyond ‘buying rifles’ and is based on the non-exhibition of the desired empathy and demonstrable commitment to effectively being a Commander in Chief. It does not help when former President Obasanjo claims in My Watch that our President at least initially felt unconcerned because it was a ‘Northern’ problem. It does not help when highly audible international voices like Hilary Clinton pass a judgment of unseriousness on our President in the war against terror. If it was a matter of rifles, the mountain of rifles seized or returned by the Niger Delta militants in exchange for an amnesty program may have gone a long way if transferred to the Nigerian Army. The current security challenges go beyond the buying of rifles or indeed shooting people with rifles. And even if shooting rifles is a component part of the war against terror, it is ammunition and not rifles that you need to keep restocking! The rifle buying arrow will have the effect of directing people’s minds to a comparative analysis of who might be better equipped as Commander in Chief to tame the insurgency. Buhari’s military background and demonstrable history of battlefield command successes, suggests it is not a comparison the president should invite. He would have been better off outlining concrete all-embracing plans to tame the insurgency including his touted Almajiri schools.
Our amiable president, in Ibadan, a city famed for political enmities and violent political eruptions, hollered – ‘I have no enemies, I have no enemies I want to throw into jail!’ If that is an arrow aimed at drawing a distinction with Buhari, it represents a sadly mistaken reading of the mood of not only Ibadan people but of Nigerians generally. Nigerians need a president who is not afraid to make enemies. Nigeria has enemies, so why should our president not have enemies? All the locusts stealing Nigeria dry are enemies of Nigerians. All those election riggers and fixers who deny the people their democratic rights by stealing their sovereignty are enemies of Nigerians. The President needs to understand that in this battle for Nigeria’s survival, the friend of the peoples’ enemy is the peoples’ enemy! The concept of imprisonment is a long standing and pivotal ingredient of the rule of law required for cohesive social coexistence. There is no virtue in denying that fact or indeed in glorifying an attitude of condonation. Is the President saying that Boko Haram and the sponsors are not his enemies? Haba Mr President! These are the real enemies you need to have, not Rotimi Amaechi!
So Buhari does not have School Certificate and he wants to contest against a PhD holder? A mismatch which should be evident to all and guarantee an easy victory for the PhD holder. So why the noise from the PhD holder’s camp? Why not go to court and have Buhari disqualified before or after the election and make the entire election a no-contest? Or could it be the case that the constitutional requirement is to ensure that aspirants to that office are educated up to at least secondary school level. If I was contesting for instance and I am eminently qualified to do so, and it is a fact that I have not bothered to collect my School Certificate from WAEC, am I doomed thereby? What if I swore to an affidavit that I am educated up to at least secondary school level and that I participated in the NYSC programme in 1985 (when Babangida overthrew Buhari!) but that I do not have the NYSC discharge certificate? Will evidence of my participation in NYSC not be sufficient proof of my education up to at least secondary school level? Having duly sworn to the fact of my educational eligibility on oath, is it not incumbent on any objectors to approach the NYSC to confirm or disprove my participation and hence educational eligibility? An aspirant to that office must also be above a certain age. I do not know but I suspect that our dear president does not have a Birth Certificate and therefore will have an affidavit. As it is silly season, if I start shouting that the president is below the minimum age and that he must produce his birth certificate to prove otherwise will I be taken seriously? Or will the retort be- how can someone who contested as Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice President and President not have met the age requirement? Have his opponents or INEC or the general public been sleeping?
Lest we mislead some of our people, the constitutional requirement for showing education up to a certain level is different from say the requirements for gaining admission into a university. In the latter case, the certificate and the grades matter because it is a competitive academic exercise. There is actually no constitutional requirement that you must have passed secondary school leaving exams! If that were to be the intention, what amounts to a pass would also have been clearly stated. Or is it the case that a certificate showing a parallel F9 result will suffice? In fact, in my view a testimonial from a secondary school that you duly attended the school till the end will suffice and so too will an affidavit in lieu of the testimonial. It may appear somewhat of a watery requirement and easy to meet and the wording is suggestive of that intention.
Lastly, Kirikiri! Many years ago I travelled in company of friends to Gashua. Anytime I asked a resident to show me Gashua prison, they got irritable and I kept hearing ‘Gashua is not a prison’. Indeed it is not and residents of Kirikiri must feel the same way. Being home to a nice golf course and significant Navy base, President Jonathan need not read meanings to and take umbrage at ‘sending people to Kirikiri! Indeed I am going to Kirikiri on my own volition this weekend – to play golf. If on my way there and if ‘God does not forbid bad thing’, I drive too fast and knock down an innocent pedestrian and still end up in Kirikiri, that will not be the fault of those whose duty it is to send me to Kirikiri. It will be my fault and nobody should cry for me! If the bad thing becomes so bad that I knock down and kill 10 people, that is more serious wahala (on paper). If the sentence by the judge is 30 years on each of the 10 counts, then my total sentence is 300 years! Running concurrently though the total prison time is 30 years! That is the way the law works and even in Buhari’s time! At the Lagos rally, an aide behind the President (can’t say who) whispered into the microphone, 300 YEARS! And the President collected the arrow and lobbed it!
Mr President, you should only listen to a soldier when discussing rifles not law! If not your 300 arrows will miss the Bourdillon Road gathering place of your targets and end up in the nearby Lagos Lagoon!
- Ukpong is a Lagos-based legal practitioner.
