TINUBU: ENTANGLED WITH THE IRONY OF IDENTITY.
By Senator Dino Melaye Esq
Once again, we are back to another season of controversies. The controversy of political performance. The controversy of eligibility. The controversy of age and the controversy of identity. These are all happening in Nigeria, with the central actor in the controversies, being the President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is challenged by the demon of controversial identities. For those familiar with the politics of Nigeria, the name Bola Ahmed Tinubu has become synonymous with controversy, almost since 1999, when the claimant occupied the office of the Governor of Lagos state, Nigeria’s centre of excellence. Perhaps, it was in the pursuit of the excellence of credibility, that some indigenes of Lagos, took it upon themselves, to subject the credentials submitted by the Governor, to proper scrutiny. Amongst those in the vanguard of that endeavour, was one of the state’s elders, in the person of Chief Olabode George, a retired Commodore in the Nigerian navy, who was appointed the Military Governor of old Ondo State, from 1988 to 1990.
In an interview with the press, Chief Bode George said, and I quote, “In 1999, according to the documents submitted to the National Electoral Commission, Bola Ahmed Tinubu said he went to Government College Ibadan and the Children’s Home School, Ibadan. We went there to verify, only to discover an opposite gender with that name. When he was confronted with such findings, he retracted the submission, saying the form was signed and submitted by Afikuyomi, and not him. The question begging for answer is, where are his friends and school mates? Are they also in the custody of Afikuyomi?” Until the arrival of an answer, a convincing answer, the name Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would be entangled in the irony of identity.
Last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, published personal particulars and Form EC9 nomination documents for 2027 presidential candidates. In the publication, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s submitted files list a Bachelor’s degree from Chicago State University, but left the columns for primary and secondary school qualifications blank. This is a repeat of what happened in his previous submissions of 2023. To qualify for a Bachelor’s degree, which is a tertiary certificate, common sense must enquire for prerequisite primary and secondary schools certificates. Where are they? Thank God, this time around, the form was submitted to a rousing National working committee members, headed by the National Chairman of the APC, by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shetima, alongside the chairman of the Progressives Governors, H.E.
Hope Uzodinma, the Governor of Imo state. There was no Afikuyomi to be scapegoated. This has renewed the questions of critics about the missing basic educational history and the issue of compliance. Until the arrival of an answer, a convincing answer, the name Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would be entangled in the irony of identity.
Memories are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians, about how
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu previously stated in past official records and biographies, that he attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos, and later the Children’s Home School in Ibadan. If in the past he has such a record, why the omission now? Why should it always be an issue for President Tinubu to tell us which primary and secondary schools he attended? What happened to the ones in Ibadan and Lagos? If INEC is an unbiased umpire, the question to ask is, what credentials did he present to be admitted to the University of Chicago? At one time, one of his ministers, who ironically, was the first to alert the nation about the questionable character of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, when he challenged his credentials in court, Festus Keyamo, claimed that Tinubu studied and passed his school certificate from home. If that is the case, evidence of such exams, scores in subjects taken and certificates obtained should be provided. In the absence of such, the name Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would continue to be entangled in the irony of identity.
As a lawyer, I take special interest in research, with a view to digging out facts that may be hidden from the glare of the public. And in the course of my research on the irony of the identity of the name Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I stumbled on the name of a late police officer called Kafaru Ahmed Tinubu. The late Kafaru Ahmed Tinubu was one time the commandant at the Police college Ikeja, Lagos. His mother’s name was Alhaja
Habibatu Mogaji, a popular and respected market trader in Lagos. He had a daughter by name Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was studying in America. The Hajiya Habibatu Mogaji, his mother, also had a house maid, that sired a male child, who travelled and got marooned in the same America. The academic credentials of the late Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the credentials of the present politician, parading himself as our President, carry a correct corroboration. Could this be the missing link, in the entangled irony of identity of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu, or there is the need for more researches?
I am yet to go into the nitty-gritty of the offenses of committing forgery and perjury, offenses that can lead to trial and possible conviction, but undoubtedly, if my suspicion tallies with the facts on the ground, then President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s chickens are coming home to roost. This is aside the incontrovertible controversy surrounding the issue of his multiple dates of births. The talk of his alleged drug trafficking case in the same United States of America is another issue for another day.
Indeed Nigeria has never had it so bad, where a sitting President will submit a long shopping list of falsehood that runs like a telephone directory, viz:
1- St Paul Aroloya 1958-1964 – False
2- Govt College Ibadan 1965-1968 – False
3- Richard Daley College 1969-1971 – False
4- University of Chicago 1972-1976 – False
5- Chicago State University 1976-1979 – Fake certificate
6- Arthur Anderson Accounting Firm – False
7- Deloitte, Hasking & Sells – False.
Senator Dino Melaye Esq writes in from Abuja