I have read the the intervention of some very senior colleagues who have rightly opined that by the provisions of section 318 of the CFRN 1999, which clearly interprets School Certificate to include the possession of FSLC with at least relevant years of exposure in the public service, including attendance to courses and trainings as the equivalent of School Certificate I can't agree less that PMB is eminently qualified to contest for the presidency of Nigeria. However, with the greatest respect, I wish to disagree with my learned senior colleagues and all those who imagine the matter ends there.
Let me for the purpose of emphasis state that the query most of us have with respect to the Buhari certificate saga has nothing and no bearing with section 318 CFRN 1999. The gist of our query is that the president lied on oath. That is to say, by deposing to an affidavit alleging that the military Board is in possession of his WAEC certificate when he knows he never sat for WAEC and never obtained any such certificate or presented same to the Army, the President lied on oath, which is a criminal offence.
We concede that having been educated up to School Cert level or it's equivalent or above, it is only axiomatic that the president has the relevant qualification to contest, moreover considering that as a military officer the President had that special privilege of training in the best military academies in the world whose standards and certificates are well beyond the level of WAEC leaves nothing to doubt that he is well qualified for the office. However, having lied on oath that he is possessed of a WAEC Certificate when he knows as a fact that he is not possessed of any such Certificate, the President is in breach of the law. This I must state for the upteempt time is not withstanding the fact that he has education, training and certificates which are well above the WAEC Certificate.
To put the matter more pungently, a billionaire who steals one million in as much as he is richer than the alleged stolen sum is still as much as guilty as a pauper who steals a penny he doesn't have. The crime is not in the relativity of standing of the felon in relation to act, but the fact of the act simpliciter, which is a crime in the eyes of the law because the law is no respecter of persons. The fact the president has more advanced certificates does not obviate the fact he doesn't have a WAEC certificate and should not have deposed to an affidavit alleging he has one, which is with the military board knowing as a fact that it is not true.
So it's important to note that our hysteria is not that the president does not have a WAEC Certificate and inspite of his superior training and exalted service to the nation in various capacities (twice as C-in-C) he is not qualified to contest and should not have contested in the first place. No that's not our grudge, our grudge is the president lied and even if he has not been tried and convicted for the crime of perjury, the demands of public morality for such an exalted office of President who is the custodian of our laws requires that if the president can not uphold and enforce our constitution and laws, which he swore on oath to protect, he should not be in the vanguard of its breach. To condone such an abuse by the number one citizens demeans not just the president, his office and his party but it demeans us all in the eyes of the rest of the world as a nation of idiots without any sense of morality and respect for our laws. A president should not lie on oath, it is to say the least bad behavior and like the president himself once said 'there should be consequences for bad behavior' and 'change starts with me', meaning him.
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