By Remi Oyeyemi
I have been following the public reactions to the disclosure of mass
failure by the school teachers in Kaduna State. I have watched with
incredulity the usual vacuous righteous indignation of hypocrites on our
public pedestal. I have been trying to ignore the whole seemingly
ridiculous scenario and concentrate on other matters deemed more
important.
But it has been difficult for me to do so. My conscience keeps nagging me
and asking why am I trying to miss out on this teaching moment. This
teaching moment to point out once again that in the course of building and
elevating a polity, it is a dangerous and destructive act to be
inconsistent about your moral thermometer. I believe it is an opportunity
to underscore the fact that unequal application of standards, moral or
any other, would always contribute to general decadence, moral stagnancy
and gradual gallivanting into gutterish and gibberish genre of
guesstimation of our core values.
I have listened to the moral hypocrisy of my former “friend” and current
Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam El Rufai. His sanctimony has been souring
my senses. I have felt repulsed by his selective moral purity and
questionable sense of duty to the people of Kaduna State. I marvel at his
miasmic amnesia as he mulled his machinations to maul the teachers of the
State out of employment.
I am reminded of his expose on the intellect of Alhaji Mohammadu Buhari as
one of the few officers who never passed any military examination in his
career. I am reminded of his explanation that Alhaji Buhari never had a
PSC after his name like other Army Generals of his generation. I am
reminded of his heartfelt plea to Nigerians never to vote for Alhaji
Buhari because he (Buhari) did not have what it takes to govern Nigeria.
Then, fast forward to the days and months leading to the presidential
elections of 2015. His volte-face on his opposition to the same Buhari
became mind boggling. Simply because he would benefit from Buhari’s
installation as president his support became legendary. Knowing fully well
as attested to by his previous analysis that Buhari is a congenital
failure, El Rufai help brought upon Nigeria the woes of a Buhari
Administration.
This was despite the fact that Buhari could not produce the evidence that
he passed or at least sat for the West African School Certificate
Examination (WASCE). Up till date, despite hiring thirteen Senior
Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) he has not been able to convince any court of
competent jurisdiction that he had or has any WAEC paper anywhere. Even
the dates provided that he (Buhari) attended High School suggested that he
began Elementary School in his mother’s womb!
El Rufai and his fellow APC goons told Nigerians that it didn’t matter if
Buhari had nothing to show to prove that he had minimum qualification for
the office of the President. In a manner akin to odious trivialization of
matters of national interest, El Rufai and his co-travellers, either
wittingly or not, marketed the idea of a NEPA BILL CERTIFICATE, if held by
Buhari, would have been good for Nigeria.
As a result of desperation for power, the powers – that – be in APC of
which El Rufai was more than eminent and prominent member, facilitated
into the Nigerian Presidency, a personality that has no qualification to
be an unarmed security guard. In their conspiracy against the well being
of Nigeria in the name of power politics, they foisted what has come to be
regarded as a monumental tragedy on the people of Nigeria.
Some apologists of this tyrannical Administration have been trying to
convince us that two wrongs do not make a right.Well, may be not
mathematically. But then, this is why holding the teachers feet to the
fire by El Rufai is a welcome development. But the kind of fire to which
their feet is being held by El Rufai is a matter of serious moral issue.
It calls to question the issue of justice and equity within the process
and before the law.
If two wrongs do not make a right as “righteously” posited by the
apologists of this Buhari Administration, then what is good for the goose
should be good for the gander. If Buhari, without any Certificate could be
in Aso Rock messing up Nigeria, then the Kaduna teachers, no matter how
woefully they failed in their tests, deserve to remain on their jobs.
In the interest of the kids in all Kaduna Schools, it is important that
the teachers are held accountable. But such accountability should not
include the loss of their jobs. It is my position that the Government of
Kaduna State should invest in their re-education and bring them up to par
in their capacities. Moreso, these teachers, unlike Mohammadu Buhari, at
least have certificates, the quality of such certificates notwithstanding.
El Rufai has no moral right to take away the jobs of those Kaduna
teachers. He is obligated to ensure that they remain on their jobs and
receive capacity improvement trainings. His so doing would be part of his
atonement for his political sin against Nigeria, a country which he had
sacrificed on the altar of expediency and personal exigency.
“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do
not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.
-John F. Kennedy
Please, follow me on Twitter @Oyeyemiremi