Certificate Controversy among Presidential Aspirants

    Controversies over school certificate 

"According to section 131 of Nigeria's Constitution, anyone contesting for the office of the president is expected, among other criteria to include a document indicating that she has obtained a minimum of a Senior Secondary School Certificate to qualify to contest for election into the office of president. 

     This section contains the following:

" A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the president if 

(a) He\She is a citizen of Nigeria by birth 

(b) He\She has attained the age of forty years

(c) He\She is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party

(d) He\She has been educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent. 

      Based on the above provision, all 2023 presidential aspirants are expected by law to provide true documents that pprovehis\her compliance with subsection (a) to (d) of section 131, mentioned above to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria's electoral body for the regulation of the said election. 

     Unfortunately, as the 2023 general election approaches a series of controversies have started to spring up on the political scene. The situation is similar to what happened before the 2015 general election when the incumbent president was in the web of certificate controversy and academic qualification scandal. 

      The All Progressive Congress(APC) Presidential Candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is in the news for not presenting his academic certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).

       While Tinubu skipped information regarding his primary and secondary education in the INEC form, he however stated that he attended Chicago State University. His latest claims seem to contradict his previous submission, especially when he ran and won the Lagos State governorship election in 1999. 

     In 1999, he said he attended St. Paul Children's School, Aroloya and Home School, Ibadan between 1958 and 1964 for his primary education while his secondary education was at Government College Ibadan (GCI) between 1965 and 1968 In an affidavit in support of his nomination form for the presidential office, Tinubu said his properties alongside his certificates were destroyed and looted when he was on self-exile from October 1994-1998.

     Even his running mate of the All Progressive Congress, Kabiru Masari could also not present his certificates as he also informed INEC of the loss of his original certificates in the credentials submitted to the electoral body attached with an affidavit stating the loss of his primary and secondary schools certificate. The affidavit sown by Masari at the Supreme Court and submitted to INEC on July 17, 2022, partly reads that "sometimes in January 2021, while on transit with Wuse Area, FCT- Abuja, I discovered that my original certificate of occupancy (C of O) of plot, NO KT 17522, GRA Katsina, Katsina state. Certificate of Kaduna State Development Centre from 1994-1995; Grade II Certificate from Katsina Teachers' College (KTC) from 1978-1983 and First Leaving School Certificate issued by Masari Primary, Katsina State, from 1972-1978, got lost and all efforts made to trace the documents proved abortive hence this affidavit", the affidavit added.

 This has spurred reactions from Nigerians and some of which are;

" I wrote in 2014 that Tinubu's affidavit that he attended Government College Ibadan (GCI) between 1965-1968 is false. I was in GCI from 1962-1968 and Tinubu was not there. Tinubu, now tells INEC, that he did not go to Primary or Secondary School. This means he committed perjury", Femi Aribisala, an alumnus of GCI said

An Anonymous citizen replied to their claim by saying "The law tends to encourage criminality in the country. Can they not get a letter from the institutions they claim to have attended to support what they attest to in the affidavit? This is what happens when criminals run a country".

It shouldn't be about certificates. After all, fake certificates can be presented. What matters is that INEC must conduct a verification of any alma mater stated in the form of all aspirants, which I'm sure they did. All this talk is just to test the ignorance of Nigerians and they love knowing how ignorant we are" another Nigerian citizen said.

Another citizen who makes himself anonymous says " Masari, let it be known that we the general public can help you locate the lost certificates including the lost title of land deed. You all stop with this fraud. Give us the names of the schools, we will go and investigate and help you find the lost documents. The government and the citizens have indulged in this miscreant for too long. Can you imagine being a graduate and applying for a job, then telling your hiring manager/organization you lost your certificates and will still hire you? With all the educated intellectuals in this nation, in over 40 years, only 1 graduate/professor has ruled Nigeria in the person of Goodluck Jonathan. We ought to hide our heads in shame, that these thieves have made rules to favour them and the educated, innovative people turn around to call them 'sir'. God will not shame us" he added.