By Gideon Njoku
The President-Goodluck Jonathan government had enough grounds to prosecute President Muhammadu Buhari, then a Presidential candidate, over the killings in parts of the North in 2011 after he lost the Presidential election, but deliberately refused to do so. It also had grounds to disqualify him from contesting the Presidential election in 2015 but, also, refused to do so.
Not prosecuting him was the handiwork of a few people, but mainly, that of Jonathan and his Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN.
Adoke made the revelations in an unputdownable book he has just written entitled *”Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s former Attorney General”*, billed for presentation to the public shortly.
On the question of Buhari’s cretificates, Adoke disclosed that he was under pressure to prosecute and disqualify him from running, but resisted same, even though the certificate had serious question marks. For not succumbing to the pressure, he said he was dubbed a pro-Buhari, even by some of his colleagues. If he had prosecuted Buhari as canvassed by some top politicians, Buhari would not have contested against Jonathan, which was what those who were putting him under pressure wanted.
Adoke:” Buhari was accused of being in violation of the provisions of sections 131 of the 1999 Constitution on minimum educational qualification and section 31 (3) of the 2010 Electoral Act which required that copies of his school certificate be attatched to the INEC Form CF001
“Buhari did not attatch his certificate. Law suits were filed in court. In all, there were 13 court cases challenging his eligibility, the most prominent being the one filed by a certain Chukwunweike Okafor. Indeed, many private citizens were in court to challenge Gen. Buhari’s eligibility.
“While the controversy was raging, a West African Senior Certificate, WASSC, purportedly issued by the Katsina State Ministry of Education suddenly surfaced on the internet. On the face of it was the picture of a 72-year-old Buhari.
“It was dated 21 January 2015 (meanwhile, Katsina State was created in 1987). The certificate also contained a grading scheme that was not in use in 1962, around the time he was said to have sat for the examination.
” This generated public outrage as people were questioning the authenticity of the certificate, and, whether indeed, Gen. Buhari had the requisite qualification, or had committed forgery. A lot of petitions were sent to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation requesting that Buhari be prosecuted for forgery, and INEC advised to disqualify him.”
If Adoke had approved of Buhari’s prosecution, obviously, there wouldn’t have been a President Buhari today.
He also disclosed that it was Jonathan who deliberately turned a blind eye to prosecuting Buhari after the then Presiential candidate made some inciting statements which resulted in protests and the death of many, including 12 Youth Corps members, when he lost the election to Jonathan in 2011.
Adoke: ” The newly elected Jonathan government was under pressure to arrest and prosecute Buhari. But reasoning that any move against the later, no matter how legal and altruistic, would only lead to more needless deaths, Jonathan refrained from toeing the line.
“Rather, on May 9, 2011, he inaugurated a 22-man Presidential Committee on the 2011 Civil Disturbances to investigate the causes of the post-election violence in parts of the country and forestall a recurrence.
“Although the Committee’s findings did not specifically indict Buhari, the fact that he was associated with the making of ‘inciting political statements’ led to the clamour for his arrest and prosecution over the loss of lives and property that followed the elections.
” Despite the clamour, government refrained from arresting him. Our consideration was the mood of the nation.We noted the bitterness in the core North. President Jonathan decided to cultivate Buhari, given his cult-like followership in his part of the country.
” The strategy was to gain his confidence so that he would rein in his supporters for the necessary conducive atmosphere to govern the country”.
Adoke’s book was published by Clink Street Publishers in London and New York.
He has been on self exile since the advent of the Buhari administration, and has been under the wanted list of the EFCC. He has since been fighting in court to clear his name, pleading persecution which, he said, almost pushed him into committing suicide.
