This week has been mired in official scandals. From the purported secret employment by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) involving some high-ranking government officials, to the president’s academic certificate saga, the alarming freezing of a sitting governor’s account without a court order as required by law, the complete northernisation of Nigeria’s security agencies as follows: Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, North; Minister of Defence, North; National Security Adviser, North; Chief of Army Staff, North; Director-General of Department of State Services (DSS), North; Comptroller-General of Customs, North; Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), North; Comptroller-General of Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), North; Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), North, and finally crowned it with the appointment of another northerner, Ibrahim Kpotum Idris as the Inspector-General of Police; to the accusation and counter-accusation between Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and the presidency over the involvement of a certain Aisha Mohammadu Buhari in the Halliburton scandal that led to the conviction of a US Congressman, Williams Jefferson in 2009.
 |
| *Fayose |
While Fayose had called the
attention of the world to the involvement of the said Aisha M. Buhari in the
Halliburton scandal as contained in a Government Sentencing Memorandum from the
US, the presidency has shown desperation in denying the issue by claiming,
amidst very uncomplimentary language, that the Aisha referred to in the US
document is not the president’s wife.
To further convince Nigerians about the true identity of the Aisha Buhari in
question, a Nigerian international passport bearing the name Buhari, Aisha
Mohammadu was hurriedly “packaged” and released to the public. However, on a
closer look, it appears the said passport has only done more harm than good to
the case of the presidency as it is replete with errors, too many coincindences
and inconsistencies.
For example, it is too much a coincidence for the three names of two individuals to be the same as in this case even though the “Muhammadu” on the passport was spelt to read “Mohammadu” while the same individuals seem to hail from the same town ofDaura
For example, it is too much a coincidence for the three names of two individuals to be the same as in this case even though the “Muhammadu” on the passport was spelt to read “Mohammadu” while the same individuals seem to hail from the same town of
Also, it is absolutely impossible
in our culture and Islamic religion for a woman’s given name to be “Mohammadu”
as indicated in the passport making the rounds. The name “Mohammadu” or
“Muhammadu” is usually associated with males and cannot be a name given to any
female by anyone.
Furthermore, while the Halliburton
scandal took place between 2000 and 2005, with Jefferson getting convicted in
2009, those who quickly made the passport did not put that into consideration
as the passport’s date of issue reads January 2012, confirming fears in some
quarters that the whole passport saga is an after-thought.
What this strange scenario has
created is a lacuna that leaves Aisha Buhari, wife of the president, open and
vulnerable to all manner of official ridicule and caricature as architects of
such ridicule can always claim that they are referring to the other “Aisha
Buhari” even when it is obvious that the person being referred to is actually
the president’s wife. Suing for libel, slander and such other actions to claim
redress of any kind becomes an exercise in futility as we now have two Aisha
Buhari hailing from the same town in Nigeria
This then leads us to the
certificate saga of Mr President himself.
