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THAT FORTHCOMING GUBENATORIAL RE-ELECTION IN KOGI STATE
By Michael Egbejumi-David
I have never been to Kogi State but I must admit a certain fondness for the people of that State based purely on my personal interactions and very positive opinion of the people from that State that I have met over the years. About 10 years ago, I undertook a postgraduate course here in the UK. As usual, there were quite a few Nigerian health care practitioners studying and/or teaching at the School. A sizeable proportion of these Nigerians at the time I was at that school were from Kogi state. Back then, I was seriously considering relocating to Nigeria. I felt encouraged by what I was hearing from some of the “visiting” Nigerian students – particularly a couple of chaps from Kogi State. So in 2000, I went to Nigeria (after some 15 years of not visiting home) and was promptly 419ed. But that is a story for another day.
In discussions with some of my friends from that State, I find that most were ambivalent about the four year (1999 – 2003) tenure of the previous Governor of Kogi, Prince Abubakar Audu. There was some grudging concession that he improved the State infrastructurally to some extent. The problem of course was that he almost converted the State to his personal property. He named virtually everything after himself. And as is the wont of Nigerian Governors, he was very corrupt and cleaned the State out. He had choice properties globally. I think the cheapest of his homes on foreign soil is the $1.7 million one in Maryland, USA. The one here in London cost him about £3 million. When the current Governor Ibrahim Idris moved into government house in 2003, he said he met only half a million Naira in the State’s treasury. Most people were quite surprised – surprised that Audu left that much behind. You get the picture; the less said about him, the better.
In any event, the State is surely heading for a repeat gubernatorial election as Audu; the candidate of the ANPP successfully challenged Idris’ PDP victory at the 2007 polls. INEC, as was its norm, had unlawfully barred Audu from contesting in the election and the Electoral Tribunal some three weeks ago rightfully nullified that election. What however emerged during the hearings at the Electoral Tribunal is now putting in some doubt the possibility of Idris being allowed to contest this time around. We are talking about a case of possible perjury here. How the tables have turned.
It turned out that 63 year old Ibrahim Idris in 2003 put down on oath, on his INEC’s Form CF001 that he obtained his West African School Leaving Certificate (WASC) in 2001. He also stated that he attended Kings Commercial College, Buguma, Rivers State. Problem is there is no Kings Commercial College in Buguma, Rivers State. There is a Kings College of Commerce there though; so perhaps a slip of Biro. Kings College of Commerce has however officially rejected any claim that Idris sat exams in that school in 2001. To further muddy the water, Idris claimed he attended the school between 1964 and 1965. Confussed? Well, it turned out Idris was just warming up.
In 2007 and seeking re-election, again on the CF001 INEC Form, Idris, under oath, disclosed in his own handwriting that he obtained a Bachelor of Law degree from Abuja University, Abuja in 2003. Again, no such contraption. Perhaps he meant the University of Abuja. Another slip of Biro, maybe.
His office had already attempted some clarification: Blaming political enemies and other mischievous people, it stated that Idris left Kings Commercial College in Buguma in 1965 after Form One to pursue a business career. (Born in 1944, he would have been 21 years old). He sat for GCE ‘O’ Level as a private (external) candidate in Sokoto in May/June 2001. (He would have been 57 years old by then). He later enrolled at the University of Abuja for LLB (Law) and graduated in 2003. Very admirable; very neat, no? There are just a few problems with this explanation: For one, GCE ‘O’ Level exams are normally conducted in November/December. Moreover, it would mean this clever chap was actually studying for the Bachelors degree in Law before he completed his ‘O’ Levels unless at the University of Abuja, the LLB programme runs for 3 years, undisrupted by student or lecturer strikes. To cap it all, Idris is a full time successful businessman and had been busy running for elections since 1999, but somehow, he found enough time to squeeze-in a FULL TIME Bachelors’ programme! You certainly don’t envy his lawyers.
Lately, it has become a nice, but somewhat disturbing routine for most Nigerian politicians to whip out a University of Abuja’s qualification. On their site, the University itself claims that no less than 14 of Nigeria’s State governors (2003 – 2007) have a degree from their institution. You simply cannot count the number of Legislators that have one qualification or the other from that school. I am actually surprised Andy Uba hasn’t obtained one from there yet. Even, Ms Etteh has got a Diploma in Law from there and I understand she’s currently pursuing a Bachelors’ degree in Political Science at the same institution. Shame she didn’t complete this programme before she became Speaker.
But to get back to the matter at hand. It wouldn’t be my place to suggest that given the “Nigerian factor” a more probable scenario could be a Nigerian politician paying someone to write an ‘O’ Level exams for them in 2001 knowing this is the minimum threshold stipulated by the constitution. And because everyone else was doing it, why not spruce up the old C.V. with a tertiary degree. Pretty soon, an honorary Doctorate would float down from somewhere (as happened with Fayose of Ekiti) and you then feel like you indeed properly belong. But, hey, all that’s conjecture. One of Obasanjo’s favourite saying in the last eight years was: “the Oyinbo that made the pencil also created the eraser”. Iwu’s INEC does the screening, not me.
demdem@hotmail.co.uk
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Posted by Robot| 30.11.2007 09:31