A Nigerian lawyer has attributed some challenges that the nation is facing to selective application of the rule of law.

Giving his opinion on Tuesday on the controversy surrounding the claims that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, is not qualified to contest in the February 14 election, Mr Kenneth Odidika, said that the ‘big man syndrome’ had led to the likely refusal of General Buhari to submit his credentials.

“We do not stick to rules in Nigeria and that is what is happening as regards the certificate controversy.

“We have a constitution and other laws with the constitution being supreme.

“The constitution has specified the needed qualification from every political party’s candidate but the APC has refused to give the leaving school certificate of his presidential candidate to the electoral body,” he said.

The certificate controversy had peaked when a spokesman of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign team, Femi fani-Kayode, insisted that General Buhari was not qualified to contest, demanding that the APC’s presidential candidates should present his credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The APC had, in response, insisted that its candidate had the certificate, describing the fani-Kayode’s claims as ‘preposterous’ and capable of destroying the image of the Nigerian Army.

‘Big man syndrome’

But Mr Odidika said that the refusal to submit the certificate was outright disobedience.

“Selective application of the law is what Nigeria is facing. Big men refuse to subject themselves to the law.

“Big man syndrome is what Nigeria is suffering from.”

He also insisted that the INEC was culpable, accepting the forms without the certificate attached as stipulated by the law.

“They are supposed to submit the personal particulars of the person before they publish his name.

“If he had the certifications, he should have submitted them,” he said.

On Monday, General Buhari urged party members not to be …read more