OPINION: Dimensions of Gov. Mbah’s saga

“Mmiri siri n’isi were gbaruo”. Igbo for the stream was polluted from the fountain head. When you hear this said in Igbo language, it means that the situation is bad and that it will take a concerted effort to clean up the Augean Stable. And in Nigeria, especially in the poltical and governing space,we have not really started the needed cleaning up of the mess. We have been enmeshed in various sordidscandals since the beginning of this republic in 1999. However, we have somehow managed to escape the pollution of the stream from the fountain head. Probably, it could just be that we have not been diligent enough to trace forgeries, real or alleged, andcontroversal certificates and documentations to the highest office in the land. That was until 2015. There was, that year, a seismic change in our politics when an opposition party, the All Progressives Congress [APC] ousted a sitting administration through the ballot box. Another strange thing happened that same year: the defeated president, Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] picked the telephone and conceded defeat even before the last ballot from the election was counted. Also, he refused to challenge the outcome of that election in spite of prodding from his party’s henchmen. That year also marked the beginning of questoning the authenticity of the credentials of an aspirant to the presidency. Major-Gen.Muhammadu Buhari [rtd] who was to emerge President claimed that his qualifying certificates were with the military secretary. It turned out that they were said not to be.

Ahead of Buhari’s reelection bid in 2019, his certificate saga became a real and hot ssue so much so that the West Afrcan Examinations Council [WAEC] had to manufacture a result for Buhari to defend himself at the election tribuna. That certificate had his picture embossed on it. The sad irony of that contraption was that affixing a candidate’s picture to WAECs certificate was a recent innovation that was not available in Buhari’s 1963 era. Well, Buhari has left office but the carnage he inflicted on Nigeria will linger for a lifetime. His successor, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is worse in terms of flaunting shadowy certificates. He has a long history with this,anyway. He escaped litigation on alleged perjury and forgery by the skin of his teeth in 1999 when he contested and won the governorship of Lagos state. Apparently, one of his political associates, Tokunbo Afikuyomi elected to be his fall guy. So, in the context of this republic, Alhaji Tinubu now president as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] is the father and grandfather of dodgy documents. Some of Tinubus co-travellers in the aleged ‘Oluwole[a part of Lagos notorious for the procurement of fake documents] certificate business from 1999 are either dead or have gone into political wilderness. A prominent member of this class is Alhaji Salisu Buhari, pioneer speaker of the House of Representatives. He was arrested whle in office, arraigned, tried, convicted and jailed for forging his age and university certifcate. The late Evan or Evans Enwerem, a former Senate president was also in the Tinubu class.

READ ALSO:OPINION: The positive sides of Tinubunomics

Sadly it appears that the tribe of alleged certificate forgers and ‘Oluwoe’ patrons is not in decline. President Tinubu is head and shoulders above the rest but the INEC-declared governor of Enugu state, Mr. Peter Mbah may just be in hot pursuit though he stands no chance of overthrowing the main man. Mbah’s school certificate is not without its own issue but the one that is in contention and in the public domain is his National Youth Service Corp certifcate of service. Governor Mbah’s nemesis is the candidate of the LabourParty [LP], Mr. Chijioke Edeoga, an attorney at law just like Mbah. But the greater headache for Mbah is the National Youth Service Commission [NYSC] and their insistence at the Enugu Governorship Election Tribunal that Mbah is parading a forged NYSC discharge certficate. The director general of the NYSC says without equivocation that Mbah is an artful forger as far as the Commission’s certificate was concerned. The Commission is also following Mbah ‘bumper-to-bumper’, as we say in local parlance, from aregular court to election tribunal. It affords the governor no breathing space in his efforts to tie up the allegations of forgery and perjury inregular court litigation.Nigerian courts have a reputation for proceeding with litgation at the speed of a snail. ButMrs. Rhoda Dawa, an assistant director of NYSC had moved quicklyto depose to an affidavit to the effect that Mbah’sdischarge certificate was not issued by the Commission. She should know being a 32-year veteran of the government agency. In addition she has worked for seven years in the NYSCs certificate verification department. Many paragraphs in Dawa’s sworn affidavit against Mbah’s attempt to seek refuge in court over allegation of forgery and perjury were pungent and damning. She methodically demolished much of the clams made by Mbah on the process that purportedly culminated in his award of the NYSC certificate. She said ‘… However, contrary to Mbah’s deposition in paragraphs 17&18 of the affidavit in support of [his] application that he was accepted by the Law Firm of [Udeh & Associates for his NYSC primary assignment], nothing was heard from him again by [NYSC].

That contrary to the deposition in paragraph 19 of the affidavit in support of [Peter Mbah’s] application that he was issued with Certificate of National Service No A808297 dated 6th January, 2003 upon completion of his service, [NYSC] never issued [Peter Mbah] with any Certificate of National Service No A808297 dated 6th January, 2003…Curiously, Mbah was the chief of staff to former Enugu state governor, Dr. Chimaraoke Nnamani at the same time he was serving Nigeria in Lagos. Like chief of staff,the NYSC project was a full time assignment. Lagos and Enugu are separated by about 500kilometres. And Mbah was able to retain full time jobs at both ends. Governor Mbah is a dogged and dirty fighter.Just like Tinubu. He has got the leave of court to continue his spirited effortsto stop the NYSC from putting a disclaimer on the discharge certificate he has been flaunting. He has gone one step further to procure one Isa Yahaya Mohammed as a witness at the election tribuna.

He was positioned as a deputydirector of Nigerias secret police or Directorate of State Services [DSS]. He said he had investigated Mbah’s certificate and found it to be genuine. But there were issues with the man and his presentation. Mohammed’s findings were not in the official letter-headpaper of the Service. Secondly, the title of deputy director was irregular with the Service. Thirdly, Mohammed failed to produce evidence that he had the authority and approval of his employer to appear as a witness for Governor Mbah. The DSS has reportedly launched an investigation into the action of that Mohammed, saying it has nobody bearing that name currently in its staff roll.Desperation eads to false steps. Mbah is a man boxed into a corner. The pillars of his declaration as Enugu stategovernor appear to be made of clay. His certificates, especially that which he claimed was issued to hm by the NYSC and the controversial and contested votes from Nkanu could prove his undoing. The walls are closing in on Governor Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] and he may sooner than later have to grapple with the humiliating task of packing out from Lion Building as the Enugu state governor’s office is called. He fits Cardinal emeritus John Onaiyekans assessment of the status of Tinubu. He said in an interview last weekend: Honestly, it is difficult to have any views on the activities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since in my own opinon, he is not yet our president until the courts have finished their job and declare who is our president.He is obviously labouring under a very serious liability of questionable legitimacy’. The assessment stands if you substitute Tinubu with Mbah and president with governor. The halls of Lion Building, Enugu, where giants such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Michael Okpara, [Sir] Akanu Ibiam and people’s General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu had walked will be gravely diminished if any person whose credibility is suspect is allowed to occupy its hallowed chambers. Enugu remains the spiritual and physical capital of the Igbo nation.

AUTHOR: UGO ONUOHA

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Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

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