PRESIDENT Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has not been known to be creative in his appointments. He has always carried out his appointments in ways that are ordinary. Essentially, he has relied on seniority principle to fill positions that are civil service-based.

The principle, though, has the unique advantage of the 'appointer' not pandering to ethnicity or favouritism or nepotism, but it has the greater disadvantage of not finding the best for the job.

This may have been the reason, why the president has not been able to get revelation appointees' like the immediate past President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, had in the likes of Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Despite the belly-aching of those who were the victims of their actions, the duo of el-Rufai and Ribadu represented pragmatic leadership and still stand-out as reference points in public service delivery, their short-comings notwithstanding.

Enter Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko, the Comptroller-General (C-G) of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS). His appointment could have been one of the creative appointments made by the President. The reason is simple. The President had to clear all the second layer of the management cadre of the NCS to fish-out Dikko, who was in the third layer, for him to be the C-G. I do not share the sentiments of those who see nothing creative in this development, and who argue that Yar'Adua was merely looking for a 'Katsina man' to give the plum job.

These cynics point to the other appointments where the president played the same nepotism to drive home their point. Some even claim that the First Lady is involved in the appointment. But it seems this creative appointment has gone awry. Some say it is another Buharigate? As the facts still play out in the media and in the courts, Abdullahi Inde Dikko, is, no doubt, under immense pressure to clear his name over accusations of alleged certificate forgery.

His traducers say he has no genuine certificates to back his career. His is not the first case of men of power and means caught in this kind of mess. The likes of Salihu Buhari, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others rank in the same mess. The Dikko affair is therefore merely one of them.

Dikko needs to do more than his present grandstanding and denials. He must prove beyond every reasonable doubt that what he has are genuine certificates that tell the true worth of his academic and professional abilities. But he is taking too long to do that. The case need not get to court if Dikko has been forthcoming in his defence by producing genuine certificates of his and daring anyone to counter their being genuine.

Dikko's problem began when he allegedly reneged on a promise made to one, Ibrahim Olajide. Mr. Olajide alleged that he helped Dikko procure a Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM) certificate in 1999 when he, Ibrahim Olajide, was a corps member serving with NIM, Lagos state office, as officer-in-charge of Training and Courses Department. In a 15-point affidavit deposited at a Lagos High Court, Olajide Ibrahim averred that he sneaked out a blank copy of the programmes certificate on Finance and Accounts which Dikko filled and presented to his employers as authentic.

Also Olajide swore: "That in the same 1999, I assisted Dikko through the help of a staff of WAEC (West African Examinations Council) to get him a fake WAEC result bearing the name of Government College, Kaduna, and with the date of issuance as 1980".

Not done with his expose on Dikko, Ibrahim continued: "When he [Dikko] attempted to become a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), they discovered that his WAEC result was not genuine... Following the discovery, Alhaji Abdulahi Dikko abandoned his ambition of becoming a fellow of ICAN and opted for membership of the Association of National Accountants (ANAN) situated at Herbert Macaulay Way Yaba, Lagos".

Led by his lawyer, the irrepressible Festus Keyamo, Olajide disclosed that even the ANAN examination that led to the award of a Fellow to Dikko, was written by one Mr. Ganiyu Memudu at the University of Lagos auditorium Akoka. Olajide detailed account of his dealings with Dikko, leaves little or no room for doubt, but exerts enormous pressure on Dikko to explain himself.

True to type, Keyamo smelt a rat in Dikko's defence and queried in one his newspapers articles: "When Dimeji Bankole was accused of not doing (sic) his youth service, pronto, the next day, he published his youth service certificate and that was the end of the matter... When any public officer leaves the substance of accusation and begins to attack his adversaries (as Dikko is presently doing, you instantly know that there is a suspicion of truth in the allegation."

In his defence, Dikko through his counsel, Amobi Nzelu said: "Festus Keyamo jumped the gun by first writing to the agencies statutorily charged with the responsibility of investigation and prosecution. To have asked you (Attorney-General of the Federation) to commence investigation in the said matter when Mr. President has not so directed is to put you and Mr. President on the path of collision." He further wrote the IGP.

"To commence investigation in a matter that is already before a court of law is to knowingly assault the powers of the court to adjudicate on issues before her by parties'. But Keyamo aptly replied: "It is sad that a public officer who is accused of corrupt practices can descend so low as to rush to court to try and gag those who are spewing out facts against him, instead of confronting the allegations head-on by simply publishing his certificates. That would really be the end of the matter."

At every strategic level in any society there are checks built in to fish out those who are cheating the society. Failure of any institution or agency to observe these checks undermines the proper functioning of, not just of that institution or agency, but the society as a whole.

The jury is still out on Dikko since no court of competent jurisdiction has convicted him of any wrong doing but his silence over this, is not golden and is worsening his case in the court of public opinion. No mass media advertorials and solidarity rallies will clear Dikko. The only way for him is to show the whole world the originals of his certificates. He can also go further to mention his classmates and course mates, as it were, as full proof that he, indeed, is the true owner of the certificates bearing his name.

"Conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it," said the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, Othman Dan Fodio. The police should handle the investigation frontally and transparently and send their findings to the court for necessary action because Nigerians are anxious to be acquainted with the outcome of their investigation in view of the controversy the matter continues to generate. Anything to the contrary, would mean government is promoting the culture of impunity among public office holders.

In the mean, time while it is not fashionable for Dikko to resign - as the culture of voluntary resignation is unNigerian, the President has a moral duty to free Dikko from the job.

The President must have to do so because the issue of ownership of genuine certificate is not what the courts should prove. In fact, it is also not what Dikko is asking the court to arbitrate. He is merely asking the courts to restrain his traducers from further damaging his name by spreading rumours that he does not have the requisite qualifications he had claimed and upon which he got the job. His traducers say he lacks the integrity to be CG of NCS. The President should tell the whole world that his kinsman, Dikko has genuine qualifications to retain his appointment, but until this is done, he should put him aside.

Yes, to help the President to retain the slot for Katsina, indeed, his kinsmen, he can still clear the next layer under Dikko's management to get to another Katsina man who is probably an ACG or even below that rank. Come to think of it, what is the duty of a CG, if not to sit down and give directives on how seized imports should be auctioned; how the ports could be congested and then decongested through the Lighter Terminal, where scores of the containers will get missing on the way and the owners left in penury.

Methinks the President can still get a near-kinsman or an in-law of the first family to this office. For now, his silence cannot be golden. It is only worrisome and vitiates the office. In his official records Dikko started his early education in 1967 at Musawa Primary School, Musawa where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate. Thereafter, he proceeded to Government College Kaduna in 1974/75 where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1979-80.

After which he proceeded to further his education at University Dimitrov Apostle Tshenov, Suishtov-Bulgaria where he graduated with a Bachelors degree in Economics. He also acquired a master's degree in Finance with special emphasis on investment Finance from University of D.A Tshenov-Suishtov, Bulgaria.

Having worked with Kaduna state Audit Headquarters, he later enlisted in the superintendent cadre of the Nigeria Customs Service in 1988.