{OPINION}Those who spent years asking for Buhari’s certificate suddenly conclude Tinubu’s certificate isn’t important?
Byy Mohammed Bello Doka
4 August, 2026.
And what of the Lagos-Ibadan media, the self-appointed guardians of democratic accountability? During the Buhari years, they were relentless. Femi Aribisala wrote President Buhari’s Non-Existent School Certificate. Akin Oladele penned Of Buhari’s Refusal To Attach Certificate. Editorial boards of Punch, Vanguard, and ThisDay published front-page demands for Buhari to show his certificate. Today, those same newspapers have reduced themselves to news reporters, merely quoting opposition politicians like Kalu Kalu and Kenneth Okonkwo, rather than leading the charge with their own editorial crusades.
There is a peculiar species of Nigerian politician that roars like a lion when the target is from the North but purrs like a domesticated cat when the target is from the South-West. We are witnessing that spectacle in real time. The publication of President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 nomination form by the Independent National Electoral Commission has once again thrown the nation into a heated debate. His Form EC9 lists only a Bachelor of Science degree from Chicago State University, while the spaces for primary and secondary school qualifications remain conspicuously blank. Yet the response from the very voices who once shook the foundations of Aso Rock with their righteous fury has been nothing short of a masterclass in political somersaulting.
Where are the crusaders now? Reno Omokri, who in 2018 spent sleepless nights demanding that Muhammadu Buhari produce his WAEC certificate, who questioned why the Commander-in-Chief could not simply order the military to release his documents, has now personally verified Tinubu’s credentials at Chicago State University. He has prostrated flat on the ground, apologised to the President, and dismissed all allegations of forgery. His DNA, he insists, has not changed. Only his principles have. Kola Ologbondiyan, who as PDP National Publicity Secretary in 2018 called the Buhari certificate saga the worst national embarrassment and accused the Presidency of manipulations, forgery and lies, has been conspicuously muted on Tinubu’s blank spaces. The man who once thundered that the attestation lacked an original certificate number and was therefore of no effect now finds absolutely nothing wrong with a president who cannot account for his primary and secondary education.
Mike Ozekhome, who in January 2015 filed a suit challenging Buhari’s eligibility for lacking a WAEC certificate, now finds himself on the other side of the courtroom, charged by the federal government over alleged forgery of documents. The irony writes itself. Olisa Agbakoba, who in 2018 called the Buhari certificate matter a fairly serious matter that the court would have to interpret, has now called on lawyers and the media to stop the madness and allow the Supreme Court to decide. Yinka Odumakin, the late Afenifere spokesman, once called Tinubu’s story a suspicious mosaic of forgeries, falsehoods, and shifting identities. He is no longer here to witness the spectacle of his former comrades now defending the very man they once condemned.
And what of the Lagos-Ibadan media, the self-appointed guardians of democratic accountability? During the Buhari years, they were relentless. Femi Aribisala wrote President Buhari’s Non-Existent School Certificate. Akin Oladele penned Of Buhari’s Refusal To Attach Certificate. Editorial boards of Punch, Vanguard, and ThisDay published front-page demands for Buhari to show his certificate. Today, those same newspapers have reduced themselves to news reporters, merely quoting opposition politicians like Kalu Kalu and Kenneth Okonkwo, rather than leading the charge with their own editorial crusades. They have been accused of unmasked hypocrisy and double standards in their coverage of the President. Critics argue that a leader from any other geopolitical zone would have faced a media onslaught. Instead, the narrative shifts, the questions soften, and the outrage evaporates.
As one commentator aptly observed, only in Nigeria can someone be said not to have attended primary or secondary school, yet graduate from a university abroad and those asking questions become the problem. A graduate from Kano, Lagos, Enugu or Port Harcourt will be denied employment because one certificate is missing. A civil servant can lose a promotion because of incomplete documentation. Nobody tells them to rely on constitutional interpretation. The rules are clear for the ordinary Nigerian. Yet somehow, whenever the discussion concerns the political elite, the rules become elastic. If certificates are important, then they must be important for everybody. There cannot be one Nigeria for the poor and another for the politically connected. That is not justice. That is privilege disguised as democracy. The nation is watching, and the nation is not amused.
*Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com
Disclaimer: Content of this article represents the opinion of the author and not of The DEFENDER Newspaper.
