…Of Alleged Falsification of Age, Certificate Forgery, Perjury, Rustication, and Matters Arising
By Simeon Nzimiro, PhD
As the clock ticks toward the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, the leadership of the party, particularly the North West, are in a fix regarding the best foot to put forward for the position of PDP National Youth Leader.
The two major contenders are 25-year-old Muhammed Kadade Suleiman and 37 or 39 or 41-year-old Sani Shehu Usman, popularly known as El-kudan.
Kadade enjoys the support of the Kaduna State PDP chapter led by H.E Ahmed Makarfi and many of the party leaders from the North West. On the other hand, El-kudan is strongly supported by former Vice President, H.E Namadi Sambo and the governor of Taraba State, H.E Ishiaku Darius.
Any of the two contenders can emerge as the winner of the contest though, in an ironic twist, the odds favour the underdog Kadade.
Kadade is the underdog in the contest because he is young, just 25 years old, and does not have the kind of financial bag that El-kudan controls. In comparison to El-kudan, Kadade is a pauper.
Though the underdog, Kadade also have certain advantages over El-kudan. Kadade is an intellect, youth activist, student unionist, and a visionary. His youthfulness is both a curse and a blessing; an advantage and disadvantage.
But, these are not the issues troubling the leaders and elders of the PDP. The decision confronting them will indicate to every keen observers how wise or unwise PDP leaders and elders are.
There are strong and damning allegations, with evidences to back it up, that El-kudan (birth name Sani Shehu Usman) falsified his age by reducing it by two years. Available information shows that El-kudan was born on the 5th of May 1980, and not 5th of May 1982 as he claimed in the documents he presented to the PDP screening committee.
There is also evidence showing that El-kudan didn’t attend Sheikh Abubakar Gumi College, Kaduna as he claimed, and this means that the certificate he presented as being from the school is fake. But, who knows, if Buhari can be president without any legitimate certificate, El-kudan can also be PDP National Youth Leader with a forged certificate.
In Kadade’s own case, there is evidence that he was rusticated from NOK university Kaduna because of his vociferous attacks against the ills of the APC government of H.E El Rufai.
Kadade’s activism and fanatical loyalty to the PDP unfortunately cut short his academic pursuit and is now a dent in his quest to become the National Youth Leader of PDP.
PDP elders are currently faced with the dilemma of either supporting a candidate with questionable educational certificate and age, or to support a candidate that was rusticated from school by the APC for being too radical and too PDP.
If the PDP leaders should support Kadade, they will be seen by the APC as encouraging dissident behaviour in the youth against constituted authority, even though that authority is a bad one.
On the other hand, if they support El-kudan, the PDP leaders and elders will lose the moral right to question and criticize the APC and President Buhari because they will be supporting perjury in a level that even the APC will be too shy to attempt.
What path will the PDP leaders and elders take as they approach the national convention? Only time will tell if the PDP elders were wise or foolish in their choice.
This article is the personal musing of the author, Dr. Simeon Nzimiro, PhD.
