Are Nigeria's Media serious? Primary Six School leaving Certificate is superior to a University Degree?

 

Ipemndoh dan Iyan 

I do not give a Toss if Nobody believes I care naught for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is the presidential Candidate for the ‘All Progressives Congress' (APC) political Party of Nigeria for the 2023 Nigerian presidential Election. Neither do I care Tuppence for his Counterpart from Nigeria's ‘Peoples Democratic Party' (PDP), Nigeria’s former Vice President (VP) Abubakar Atiku. Both these Methuselahs are not worthy, period. 

What does Atiku want in being the President of Nigeria other than the Status? They say this Man has tried for it five times. The Number of times is irrelevant. It is the Multiplicity of Attempts that is resonant with me. The Multiplicity does not show Grit, as Nigeria’s Media, many Nigerians, and his Supporters or even Worshippers, glorify it. Typically, Nigerians are so enthralled to western Thinking and/or History that they apply it to all Situations notwithstanding the Circumstances. The perennial Saying that “If at first you don't succeed try, try and try again” does not apply in the Case of former VP Abubakar Atiku. This Saying is attributed to King Robert the Bruce of Scotland for rousing his Troops to Success. Does this translate, ordinarily, as Aphorism of Determination? Yes. Atiku has Determination alright, but are his Attempts the Resolve to muster Combatants into a victorious War, as Robert the Bruce did1 or is it to make his Business Enterprises the greatest in the World or to add new Knowledge to existing Knowledge or to pioneer other Things besides new Knowledge? No. VP Atiku wants to be the President of Nigeria for Status. Thus, his many Attempts at this Goal constitute Pestilence. Atiku should have emulated Al Gore, Vice President of the United States of America in the Bill Clinton Presidency. Gore won the 2000 presidential Election but Jeb Bush, Governor of the State of Florida, rigged the State’s Votes for big Brother George W Bush. I know Gore won because I was following Events and commenting on them regularly somewhere on the Pages of the New York Times. VP Al Gore never again went for the Presidency. That was his second Run. The first was in 1988. 

In Reality, there is no big Deal to winning an elective Post. If you can convince enough Persons to believe you or side with you even without believing your Promises, you will get their Votes. Please, please Nigerians, especially the pseudo-Expert Journalists, do not start harping on Vote buying in Nigeria. The Means suit the Mood in electoral Politics, your so-called Democracy. The Nigerian prevailing Mood is 'Money for Votes'. You can cry "foul" all you want, but first wear the Shoes of those who sell their Votes rather than condemn them. You have to feel it before you can know it if you continue to refuse to recognize the dire Circumstances of those who sell their Votes. In https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1088176846049632261?s=19 (2019) I advised that those offered Money for their Votes should take the Money but that they should not feel obligated to cast their Votes for the Money. They should still vote for whom their Hearts tell them would better the Conditions of all Nigerians in the long Term. They should vote for the 'Common Good'. It is winning both Ways for the Underdog and the oppressed of Nigeria. If I were in their Shoes, it is what I would do.2 In the West, we do our rigging in different Ways; i.e., lying to ‘the People’ and or misleading – still lying – ‘the People’ or Aspirants telling Lies about one another or postal Services distributing Election Leaflets in the wrong Constituencies or Vote Counters manipulating Vote Counts or the Courts facilitating the Dismissal of legitimate Votes. Being elected into Office, even the Office of Executive President or Prime Minister, does not bespeak a brilliant Mind or a Person of Integrity. Read here https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/03/johnson-faces-backlash-for-failure-to-act-over-chris-pincher-warnings, i.e. See, for Instance https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/02/boris-johnson-faces-investigation-into-claims-over-40-new-hospitals as an Illustration of winning Elections in the West any which Way. 'Rigging' has many Forms, people.

What happened to Gore after he was cheated of his 2000 Win? He climbed better and greater Heights. He did not even rely on the Clientelism that his previous Status as a former VP of the US would have secured for him, as Others in his Shoes had done, and continue to do. He was original in and with his further Steps, and he excelled. He won the ‘Nobel Peace Prize on Climate Change', an ‘Emmy’, a ‘Grammy’ among many other global Awards. Only limited Persons pursue the same Objective over and over. We have an Example in the current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari. What manifested when he finally got his Presidency? Flatulence. In Addition, Abubakar Atiku’s Refusal to accept Nyesome Wike as running-Mate was unadulterated Malice not for the Reason of “Compatibility” Nonsense spewed by Reuben Abati (PhD). 

Take me for Instance. I stood for Election to the UK House of Commons in 2005. I was rejected by ‘the People’, besides the Post Office/Royal Mail distributing my Election Leaflets in the Constituency I was not contesting. Why did I want to be elected to that Legislature? I knew I had good Things to offer. I knew I wanted to be there for the ‘Common Good’ of ‘the People’. In the following Election Cycle, the political Party I wanted to stand from rejected me. That was it for me. I desired to give to ‘the People’ but ‘the People’ did not find me agreeable. Curtains. A third Attempt would inevitably contradict my Stance that Persons above 55 Years of Age should not contest political Office. However, the real Truth is that I would never have tried a third Time. ‘The People’ lost by rejecting me, not the other Way round. Take another Instance. I was Secretary/Board Director to a Company limited by guarantee in the UK in the 1990s. I resigned my Position because I was tired of the Nonsense going on in that Company, particularly the Antics of a Chair of the Board and his Cohort. I wrote Papers, gave Talks, abstained from voting on injurious Decisions and at times voted ‘no’ on them but to no Avail until I had enough. A long time after my Resignation – Months or Years I cannot remember – I received a Call from an unknown Person. She introduced herself as the new Chief Executive Officer – I cannot rightly recollect her Title but she was certainly the Chief Officer – and informed me that the Board had instructed her to call me. ‘What about’? I asked. She advised me that the Board had held a Meeting and had resolved to call me back from Resignation to become the Chair of the Board. My immediate Response was "no, I am not interested." She prevailed on me to come to my Home to meet and lay down the Proposal for me. We met. I gave my Terms, which included the Exit of the current Chair and his Cohort from the Board. I never again heard from her. Not my Loss. A Company limited by Guarantee in the UK is for ‘the People’ albeit non-statutory. That Chair and Cohort as Members of the Board, if I assumed the Chair of the Board, would be defeating my Reasons for resigning in the first Place. They would always vote me down, and the Interest of ‘the People’ would never be served. They replaced that Chair with someone else but the Complexion of the Board remained the same. About a Year later, the entire Board was voted out. Sometime afterwards, I received a Letter from the new Board terminating my Membership. Then, I knew the Company would not survive. It had been taken over by even worse Characters than I worked with. When I resigned from the Board, I had also resigned my Membership. How could any rational Person cancel my Membership when I had ended it myself years before the new Board was inaugurated besides the Fact that Records would show I never supported any harmful Decision the old Board made when I was Member? Was it not just Madness to erase a Membership that did not exist? I think the Company was folded within 2 Years of the new Board. 

I admit that I proposed and voted 'yes' on a generally harmful Decision when I chaired a Meeting of the old Board. It was the Decision to summarily dismiss a Member of Staff who had put Board Members severally at Risk of financial Liability. Sacking a Staff is generally harmful to that Staff and Family. While many Dismissals are consequent to Power Abuse, and small Brains believing themselves gods, certain Dismissals are necessary. Directors of Companies limited by Guarantee are individually responsible and culpable for Matters of the Company. This Staff Member left the Company’s Cheque Book exposed on his Desk and left his Office with the Door wide open and was not in the Vicinity. He never denied this. It was a Building with its three Floors open to any wandering Member of the Public. Board Members were saved by a Director who was in the Building at the time and had gone to this Staff’s Office to talk to him only to find the Office that Way with no Sign of the Staff for about 30 Minutes or so. I am not sure if I am correct about the Length of Time, but it was nevertheless a long Wait for the Director before this Staff returned from wherever. So, what if he left the Cheque Book on his Desk with his Office Door wide open, you ask? Well, all the Leaves of the Cheque Book were already signed by the two Signatories required. This was Practice I had warned many times to be discontinued in a Company limited by Guarantee with ca £2Million in the Bank. 

The Staff had to go. Unfortunately, he and his Wife then recently had a Baby. It was a difficult Proposal and Decision for me, but we live(d) in the UK, and I knew they could fall back on our social Welfare System. His Lawyer thought he had a Case when he challenged me that my giving him one Month Salary meant I did not believe his Conduct was gross enough to warrant Summary Dismissal. He dropped his Rubbish when I reminded him that the Law says nothing about Employers choosing to make Payments to Employees summarily dismissed and how much such Payments should be. By the Way, I fought hard for the 1 Month Salary. The Board did not want to grant it because our Employment Law does not require any Payment for Summary Dismissal except Payment owed. I had a philosophical Problem with that Staff; why did he choose to leave already signed blank Cheques on his Desk then depart his Office without shutting the Door? He did not even close the Door. Did he plan something with somebody? Would he have done something to the Door to make it seem the Office was broken into? Why bring out the Cheque Book if you were not writing a Cheque immediately? Many Questions. That Staff frightened me stiff. Such a Staff, and recalcitrant Board Members. It was after I completed my Interactions with his Lawyer that I resigned from the Board.3 

What about Tinubu? I do not know much about this Man except what I have read about him and what I think is reasonable to accept as true. I once judged a Man by what I read about him until I met him. I do not believe he met me. He was a beautiful Man. He was Chief MKO Abiola http://ipemndohdaniyan.blogspot.com/2022/02/my-message-to-ms-tundun-abiola-you-can.html. In Addition, I know Asiwaju Bola Tinubu through what I have heard him say and his Contradiction of what I believe to be right. I watched Tinubu in a Video Recording stating that the Demonstration is not a proper Way to air Grievances in a ‘Democracy’. If that Video was not doctored, is such a Man fit to be President of a ‘Democracy’? The Man is a nationalist4 Demagogue when he wants to be. See my https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1532829382783426561?t=OEbla4DopykDsrM1GQl8rg&s=19. Is this a Person fit to be President of a ‘Democracy’ with disparate Populations as Nigeria? My ‘when’ above is the operative Word because we know that Ahmed Tinubu had worked collaboratively with other Nations5 in Nigeria besides his Yoruba Nation for common Objectives, but the Danger is there that he could kindle and/or trigger nationalist Intolerance leading to Chaos if he chose to.  

The new Person joining the Bandwagon disdainful of the Nigerian ‘cognitive complexity' is this Fellow, Mister Anthony Ehilebo, of the PDP. The Man is bewildering in his Understanding of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (even as amended). He makes One wonder how he got through his University Education not to talk of how he became a Lawyer. Nobody asked him to discuss6 the Nigerian Constitution. Na wa o; Person wit only Bachelor Degree dey make mouth like dis? The Nigerian Constitution 1999, even as amended, defines what Qualifications are required for elective Office unequivocally in three Ways. (1) “Secondary School Certificate” [(s.318(b)] or (2) “Primary School Leaving Certificate” ...  plus “service in the public or private sector in any capacity ... for a minimum of ten years, and attendance at courses and training ... totalling[sic]  ... a minimum of one year, and the ability to read, write, and understand and communicate in the English Language … or (3) any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission.” (s.318 (1)(c)(i-d). (Emphasis is mine). 

S.131.(d), the Preamble to s.318(1) itself is explicit enough on the educational Requirement for elective Office. It states clearly as follows: "A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President [or any other elective Office] if - … he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent." (Emphasis is mine). This "School Certificate level or its equivalent" requirement was spelt out in s.318(1) as "(a) a Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or (b) education up to Secondary School Certificate level; or (c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent … and (d) any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission." It is evident that this spelling out is not really that intelligent but the Framework of needed Qualifications is there. When I say it is not intelligent, I mean (1) it does not provide what Qualifications are equivalent to either primary six Certificate or secondary School Certificate, (2) it claims "education up to Secondary School Certificate level" is counterpart to "Secondary School Certificate." This is evidently Rubbish. Unbelievably idiotic. Further, the whole Constitution is badly organized, and with many typing Errors. 

Three Imperatives strike the intelligent Mind when reading the "School Certificate level or its equivalent" Condition. (I) "The ability to read, write, and understand and communicate in the English language ...” was not attached to "Secondary School Certificate." (II) The Allowance for "any other qualification …" (III) The Proviso of "at least School Certificate level or its equivalent." In View of these Imperatives, the Intention behind the Qualifications for elective Office in Nigeria is to ensure that Candidates possess "the ability to read, write, and understand and communicate in the English language...” Academic Philosophers - MPhil/PhM and DPhil/PhD - whose Dissertations were not ghost-written by their academic Supervisors would have identified this Intention (before I have done now). That Nigerians, especially the Media, are preoccupied with whether or not an Aspirant to elective Office has a primary School Certificate or secondary School Certificate when that Person has presented higher Qualifications confirms why UK Governments do not recognize Nigeria as an English speaking Country. Na wa o. Simple English Language Texts yet Nigerians find them difficult to grasp. See also my https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1363998941625335808?s=19 in this Respect.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) (Lawyer) Babatunde Ogala whom Ehilebo was somewhat uncouth to in https://youtu.be/tlXH6J8q11Y has a better Grasp of the School Leaving Certificate Requirement, although not comprehensively, than Abati who believes it means attending Secondary School only. As for the channelstv Anchor in the Video, he is so crass. Where do Nigeria’s Media get these non-reflective Brains from? A Minimum Requirement is, ordinarily, subdued by anything higher than it. Mr Ogala did not need to explain this to that Journalist, as all can note from my Elucidation above that the Constitution itself is precise enough on the Question of educational Qualifications for elective Office. The Journalist should have had the cognitive Wherewithal not to have asked about Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s primary School leaving Certificate or even the secondary School Certificate insofar as Tinubu has submitted Certification for earned University Degree. Get it, Mr Journalist? A superior Education to either the primary School Certificate or the secondary School Certificate renders both obsolete. If I were you, I would direct very incisive Questions at huff, huff, puff, puff, Anthony Ehilebo. Asking Questions does not make good Journalism. Asking intelligent Questions denotes laudable Journalism. Wow. Unbelievable Mediocrity. 

Endnote

1Some would argue that Abubakar Atiku’s Attempts to be President of Nigeria are representative of his Sincerity to lift Nigeria out of its Doom. Bollocks, I say. He ain’t got the Drift.

2I published this Blog on Google+. Unfortunately, this Platform is no more and Readers cannot gain Access to it. I keep promising that I will revise it, and republish. Some Day, I will.

3I have not been an Employer for Decades now so, I do not know if the Law about Summary Dismissal has changed)

4'Nationalist' here is the Adjective of my Proposition of Nation. It could also be a Noun. See Endnote 5 below.

5My Nation is offered as Belongingness to Group Identity founded on common cultural History, and shared Genealogy. You might prefer to see it as 'Tribe' but the Description is pejorative.

6I have deployed ‘discuss’ in academic Terms.

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4 July