By EMMANUEL AZIKEN
What an irony for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

Buhari, Jonathan and Ribadu

At the height of his political powers 26 years ago when he scorned the Nigerian press with disdain he did not see it as an obligation to explain details of what was then regarded as the most conspicuous blot on his austere military regime.

The saga of the 53 suitcases saga happened within the first six months of his military regime. The junta had, in 1984, ordered the change in the colours of the Nigerian currency, the naira that was essentially aimed at rendering useless the reported collection of millions or billions of Naira stolen by the politicians of the Second Republic.

As part of the currency change exercise, the country’s land borders were all shut and it was ordered that every baggage entering the country must be thoroughly checked irrespective of status.

It was in the midst of the currency change exercise that a high ranking military officer from Buhari’s military headquarters subsequently identified to be Buhari’s Aide-de-Camp, Major Mustapha Jokolo stormed the Murtala Muhammed Airport to ferry 53 suitcases without subjecting them to the required custom inspection.

Though the media broke the news, the taciturn General then in command of the country remained aloof, giving no explanations. With the infamous Decrees of the junta restraining the liberty of the press, nothing much could be done.

It was as such remarkable that Buhari for the first time opened up on the saga this week in the middle of his presidential campaign hustle.

Responding to enquiries from newsmen on the issue during a campaign stop in Dutse, last Monday shortly before a courtesy call on Governor Sule Lamido, Buhari said that Atiku was in the best position to speak on the issue because he was in-charge of the Airport Customs.

He said: “You go and ask him for details. I was in Dodan Barrack as Head of State then. I know my head of protocol, late Ambassador Dahiru, came back from Saudi Arabia together with his three wives and about 15 children.

“Each had their luggage and his hand bag was also counted as one person’s luggage. The other details I cannot speak because I wasn’t there when the incident happened.”

Though not directly involved in the presidential campaign, Atiku Abubakar told Saturday Vanguard that the issue was well documented in his authorized biography, “Atiku: The Story of Atiku Abubakar” written by Onukaba Adiniyi-Ojo who was at that time The Guardian aviation correspondent and now a top aide of the former Vice-President.

Speaking through his spokesman, Garba Shehu, he said: “In his own account (Adiniyi Ojo’s) the story is how big men and women consider the observance of laid down procedure as something that is belittling. Soldiers who came to pick the suitcases were rude and crude and threatened Customs officers who had insisted on inspecting the suitcases.”

The matter of the 53 suitcases was earlier resurrected the day before by Mr. Mike Omeri the now suspended director of Research and Strategy at the Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Council who referred to the matter as a sore point. Desperate to paint Buhari in the negative, Omeri had in a statement last weekend, accused Buhari of double standard in public administration over the 53 suitcases saga.

He equally poked Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN over his linkage with those he allegedly once remonstrated over corruption while he was chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

“In 2007 while answering questions from the Senate on the alleged corruption of some governors, Ribadu pointedly said that the corruption of the former governor of Lagos state, Senator Bola Tinubu was “of international dimension,” Omeri said. Continuing, he said

“Is it not curious that the same person with such a tag is now the political godfather of Ribadu and sole financier of his political campaigns? Ribadu by such posturing has given Tinubu a clean bill of health which is not only hypocritical but evidence that given the same opportunity, he [Ribadu], would not have done better than the governors whom he had indicted,” Omeri submitted.

It was perhaps that statement that roused the Buhari campaign organization to respond in a vicious statement that threw allegations of corruption against the PDP’s presidential candidate, President Jonathan and his spouse, Dame Patience Jonathan.

Though the recurring allegations first made during the President’s stewardship of Bayelsa State were ironically dismissed by Ribadu during his tenure at the EFCC.

In responding to the allegation, Yinka Odumakin, Buhari’s spokesman accused Jonathan of Jonathan poking crooked fingers into Buhari’s Aqua Fresh mouth.

“Our attention has been drawn to another lousy outing by President Goodluck Jonathan’s “Chemical Alli”, Mike Omeri wherein he sought to abuse the office of the President to spread low quality rumour against the man his paymaster is handing over to in 71 days time, General Muhammadu Buhari.”

“In the usual audacious incompetence of the Jonathan camp, Omeri’s only evidence to support his assertion is the fabled “53 suitcases” of 1984.

Going ahead to explain the story of the 53 suitcases, he said:

“For the sake of the unwary who may be tempted to believe their is any substance to this urban legend, we recap what happened .In 1984,the Emir of Gwandu whose son was ADC to General Buhari was returning to the country from overseas. The Head of state on learning of his arrival asked his son to go and receive him at the airport as they were only playing  squash at the time.”

“Coincidentally, the Nigerian ambassador to Libya at the time, Dr Tahir Waziri arrived at the same time with the Emir with his three wives and 16 children. They all came with their belongings as he was coming home to take up a new appointment as chief of protocol to the Head of state. It was the suitcases of the family of 20 that were counted as  belonging to the Emir and falsely presented to the public.”

Where some have thought the PDP’s Omeri to have misfired, the Northern political rebel, Abdukarim Daiyabu has recently gone the length to question the integrity of those around Buhari.

Daiyabu, National President, Movement for Justice in Nigeria, MOJIN, in an interview with a Lagos based news magazine, The News, while affirming that Buhari himself was clean went on to question the integrity of his associates.

“Actually, there is nothing wrong with General Muhammadu Buhari, but there is everything wrong with his surroundings. It is very unfortunate that Buhari is surrounded by only unscrupulous people-some of them are the people he detained in Kirikiri when he was the military head of state because they have looted their state’s treasury.

“But still, you still find them around him. They have pinned him down like a prisoner. He only does what they plan for him. So, where do we go from here? “The Buhari and Ribadu campaigns have on their parts continually questioned the moral and administrative competence of those around the PDP’s Jonathan going the length to query the utilization of state resources in the PDP presidential campaign.

Given what is at stake, that is the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is not surprising that the presidential campaign is increasingly descending into a question of the moral credentials of the candidates.