By NELSON EKUJIMI
January , 2015 – One has followed the noise being made concerning the academic qualifications of General Muhammadu Buhari following his deposition that his certificates are with the military board and it’s intriguing.
The military as a sensitive institution necessary for nation building in any state has minimum qualifications of entry for its personnel which are basic. It’s also a fact that this minimum qualification is one of the requirements for the office of the President of the federal republic of Nigeria.
However, it’s quite interesting that the military has not responded back officially despite insinuations from some quarters that the military only takes possession of photocopies of certificates and not originals which is not unexpected.
But the issue now is that, for the General to have deposed that his certificate are in possession of the Nigerian government through the military shows the integrity of General Buhari who rose to the peak of his revered institution and even became Head of the government of the federal republic of Nigeria at a time in our political history.
What we all know to be an indisputable fact is that, one cannot rise to the position of a General in the Nigerian army which is the equivalent of a Professor without having attended training, seminars and courses in some of the best military and educational institutions in the world.
While some people continue to lose sleep and attempt to score cheap political points which amounts to nullity, one expects the military authorities to present even the photocopies of the General’s certificate to INEC in an intergovernmental exchanges as is the practice worldwide. What the General has simply done is to make Nigerians and the whole world realize that his academic qualification is not a private matter, but a public one in view of his public service career.
The question on my mind now is that, given our present situation of hopelessness as a country due to a nonexistent government which has abdicated its constitutional responsibility and indulged in acts unprecedented against human values, which one would any sane mind prefer, between a leader who possesses “Ph.D” but who has turned governance into the opposite of integrity, responsibility and accountability and a leader who possesses School Certificate and whose public service was symbolized by character, integrity, uprightness and discipline?
Nigerians, the ball is in our court.
Thanks,
Nelson Ekujumi
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are entirely those of the author.
