In the past few weeks, the media space has been inundated with reports of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s certificate forgery, inconsistencies in his academic records, controversies over his age, as well as his recent remarkable transformation from Bola Ahmed Tinubu BAT to Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu BAAT. What lessons have we learned as a nation from this avoidable embarrassment?
The burden of legitimacy is an enormous task to prove, and Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “forged presidency” carries the baggage of illegitimacy no matter how hard it tries to legitimize it.
At Parallel Facts News, we find it appalling and preposterous that an individual could successfully run to govern Lagos State, the acclaimed center of excellence, 22 years ago with forged college and university results twice, in 1999 and 2003, successfully beating the scrutiny of INEC and “woked Lagosians.”
Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu’s emergence as a candidate in the 2023 presidential elections has further raised questions about the integrity and efficiency of our state institutions, such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Department of State Security (DSS), and Defense Intelligence, to carry out their statutory functions.
The Tinubu Gate offers us several crucial lessons beyond the immediate implications. While the matter highlights the need for rigorous scrutiny by electoral regulatory and monitoring bodies, it also underscores the importance of individual responsibility and civic engagement in the political process. Bola Ahmed’s certificate scandal serves as a stark reminder that citizens must actively engage in vetting and assessing the credentials of political candidates in a country like Nigeria, where endemic corruption and systemic failure pervade public institutions.
Parallel Facts News notes with utmost dismay the “brown envelopization” of the media space in Nigeria and efforts by certificate forger Bola Tinubu to pocket the media by hook and crook. The media must stand and report the news the way it is at these crucial moments of our dying democracy. This certificate forgery scandal has further exposed the inefficiency in our media space. It has been shown that investigative journalism is a mere mirage in Nigeria.
Investigative journalism can help expose fraudulent activities, ensuring that voters are well-informed about the character and credentials of candidates. But Nigerian journalists and media houses will not focus on this; the majority always look in the direction of fat brown envelopes, where they will be able to twist facts and report such as fiction. To those who have continued to remain steadfast in reporting the truth, we say a big thank you.
Tinubu’s case also highlights our weak legal frameworks and enforcement mechanisms for deterring candidates from fraudulent activities and certificate forgery. Legal consequences for submitting forged documents or engaging in any form of electoral misconduct are too vague and ambiguous and not robust for smooth implementation.
Tinubu’s certificate forgery, perjury, and other controversies that hang on his neck are a testament to the failure of our political parties and their abilities to do their due diligence in screening and vetting individuals who seek elective positions on their platform.
Our political parties must bear a responsibility to ensure that individuals with questionable backgrounds or credentials are not allowed to represent their parties in elections, not just by organizing elaborate and jamboree political rallies where any message is hardly passed.
On a positive note, at Parallel Facts News, we commend well-meaning Nigerians both at home and in diaspora for speaking up against this malicious imbroglio, forgery, and other avoidable embarrassments Bola Tinubu has caused us as a people and nation.
This has further reaffirmed our firm belief that a new Nigeria beacon, no matter how hard her enemies try to hinder our progress.