BETWEEN A ‘BIRTHER’ AND A SCHOOL CERT

The desperation with which our ruling party sought to disqualify the candidacy of General Muhammad Buhari, by claiming that he did not have a secondary school certificate, is highly reminiscent of the spirited crusade of American estate tycoon Donald Trump in 2011. Mr Trump led people of like minds to try to prove that Barack Obama was not only America’s first black president, he was also not even a citizen of the United States. They challenged the president to provide a birth certificate to prove that he was born on the island of Honolulu in Hawaii, like he claimed, or accept that he was born outside American shores. The president rose to the challenge and provided a birth certificate that was still the subject of even more controversy.

For one it was a bit late in coming, as he didn’t produce it as immediately as it was requested, and for another, it contained defects that made it look like a forgery. These defects were said to be the name of the hospital where Obama claimed to have been born. It was not the name the hospital had when Obama was born there in the 1960s. The other defect was the name of Barack Obama Senior’s home country which was said to be other than Kenya at the time. This is why up to today there are people who believe the birther issue had not been solved but was carefully swept under the carpet. In other words these people still believe Obama was born outside the United States and had no right touting himself as an American citizen. President Obama himself didn’t help matters when in an attempt to douse the raging controversy he staged the second killing of Osama bin Laden. This purported incident raised him to the status of a hero somewhat, among those who believe Bin Laden was still alive then, as well as gave his compatriots something else to talk about. In the end, Obama finished his first term and cruised into a second term without the birthers having their way. But in the case of General Muhammadu Buhari, a genuine copy of his secondary school leaving certificate was produced but his detractors are still not satisfied that the former head of state had a right to contest the nation’s presidency without further headache. Qualifications are always needed in order to prove that one has the capability or competence to handle a certain task. But when one had done this task competently before why should the simple matter of a paper qualification be the ultimate proof of his ability? Luckily for him Muhammadu Buhari is not the only past Nigerian leader without a university degree. Indeed most of our leaders, both military and civilian were not degree-holders. In fact, the first time we had so-called graduates ruling Nigeria was during the ascendency of Umaru Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan as president and his vice respectively. Incidentally nothing spectacular happened during their leadership to justify their claim to higher education or better grip on governance. The current administration of President Jonathan and Vice-president Sambo is another graduate tag-team partnership. The president lays claim to a Ph.D while his vice is an MSc holder. But the quality of their government leaves a lot to be desired, when measured by almost all yardsticks through which good governance can be measured. For this reason alone, Nigerians will not be impressed by any attempt to rubbish the illustrious and patriotic record General Buhari has because of a lack of paper qualification. When 11 years ago I wrote in response to an article by my senior colleague, Mohammed Haruna, who had written that the choice between Muhammadu Buhari and Olusegun Obasanjo was one between a ‘Rock and a hard place’ I had suggested that we could weigh the choice by using a Roman criterion. At that time General Buhari and Chief Obasanjo were the lead contenders for the presidency in 2003. The Roman criterion was what Mark Antony said at Julius Caesar’s funeral where he told ordinary Romans that ‘When the poor had cried, Caesar had wept, ambition should be made of sterner stuff.’ In other words, despite being the haughty emperor of the greatest empire in the world at the time, Julius Caesar would weep at the plight of the Roman poor. I therefore suggested to fellow Nigerian voters the need to assess the two candidates through the way they identified with the wishes and aspirations of ordinary Nigerians. Luckily for us, both of them had served the country as military rulers before and they had records we could dig up to decide who had our interest at heart. I humbly suggested to my fellow countrymen the need to use this comparison as a yardstick to decide whom we wanted to lead us. Alas, the many election irregularities in 2003 proved to us that sometimes voters don’t really decide who wins an election. Incumbency and corrupt political muscle do; and that was what happened in 2003. So, as we are faced with a similar choice today, we should look closely and see who among the lead contenders will serve our country with our interest at heart? Who will plan and work diligently to develop our country, provide essential services and ensure the security of our lives and property? This is what we should look for and vote for, not any doubtful paper qualification which has not yet served our aspirations. Then we must pray that our votes will count this time. Amen.

BY AISHA YUSUF