PURSUANT to Section 131(d) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, a person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent. By the school certificate, it implies Ordinary Level. This therefore renders anyone who has attained or acquired education leading to a certification by the West African Examination Council or its equivalent eligible to contest the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Incidentally, the polity has since the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress been subjected to unending controversies over claims that Buhari’s WASC certificate had been in the custody of the Nigerian Army. Some from the opposition resultantly demanded from the Independent National Electoral Commission outright exclusion of Buhari from the race on account of his inability to provide the certificate. Bizarrely, the same issue came up ahead of the 2015 presidential election but was resolved in favour of Buhari leading to his contest.
Be that as it may, by the above constitutional provision, it is pertinent to note that WASC certificate is not absolute for the election of a President in the subsection. It unambiguously utilises the word “at least” which destroys the absoluteness of WASC as a requirement. By this position, must O’Level; that is, WASC certificate be presented as academic requirement? The answer is emphatically NO. Any aspirant with superior certificates needs not present WASC certificate to the electoral umpire. The academic requirements merely begin from WASC without end. Thus, aspirants with Diploma, Bachelor’s, Master’s or doctorate degrees or their equivalent in military need not present WASC certificate which is simply the least academic requirement to participate in the race.
Had it been the constitution strictly requires School Certificate or its equivalent only, then, the hullabaloo would have made sense if not provided. The word “at-least” literarily means “not less than”; “at the minimum”; “if nothing else”. And therefore, WASC is not an absolute requirement. Anyone with superior qualifications need not be harassed over the minimum requirement. Again, it would amount to belittling the office of Nigeria’s President to peg the academic requirement for the position at O’ Level. The essence of bringing the academic qualification to the minimum of WASC is to promote universal suffrage and not that a school certificate holder is sufficiently trained to lead the nation. Therefore, it would amount to a charade on the system if the academic requirement for the number one position in the nation is O’Level academic qualification. In consequence, WASC certificate is not absolute requirement.
It amounts to absurdity to be heating up the polity over Buhari’s O’Level qualification. Buhari’s rank as a Major-General in the Nigerian Army is a certification superior to O’Level which cannot be contested. Other various training and certifications in the military are equally all superior to WASC and therefore Buhari is not under any obligation to present O’Level or any particular certificate as far as the election to the office of the President is concerned. If his WASC certificate is unavailable, any of his other certificates can serve the purpose provided it is superior or equivalent to O’Level.
At this point, campaigns should be extensive, policy and issue-based on national interest and not on frivolities. The fundamental issue that should dominate the polity at this critical juncture is the resuscitation of the economy alongside the people. By pegging the minimum academic requirement on O’Level or its equivalent in the constitution, it is obvious that almost all the electorate are academically eligible, albeit distinct from soundness, to run for office of the President. Therefore, issues should shift to competence, credibility and ideology for service delivery. For example, by Buhari’s first term scorecard, has the country been realistically, economically secured, restructured, or significantly making progress to necessitate his reelection for consolidation?
The above questions should dominate the squabbles in the political terrain.
As for the populace particularly the electorate, national interest and welfare of the people should always be the decisive factors. The unending dirges over minimum academic requirement are uncalled for and symptomatic of misappropriation of priorities and values. The masses’ concern should be on the way forward; essentially, with a judicious comparative assessment on the system under the PDP’s watch of nearly two decades and the present APC’s one term administration. Holistic appraisals will give astute directions. This is no good time to be pursuing shadows or for aimless and deceptive propaganda. The people are keenly enthralled to see realistic manifestoes, sound policies and political will for service delivery and dividends of democracy.
Carl Umegboro, Abuja. 07057101974
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My own comment on this issue is that I believe his excellence have a certificate but by saying the certifice is with miliary am not very abide to that because if any establishment want to employ u ur original credentials WL be sighted and return back to u and photo copies of it will be in there administrative file for future purpose as this bt his excellence continue telling the nations that is certificate is still with is former employee, but for m if the original have get lost in transit he should have Nigeria which all this type of.disgrace to our nation towards other international country mighty have stop.
The basic fact which the write up failed to address is that all additional qualification paraded by the president which were earned in the military were based on the Waec qualification. Consequently para venture he never had the Waec qualification, then he had obtained all other additional qualification in error. If you mislead a university with a fraudulent Waec result and gained admission, whenever such error is detected, the university can withdraw whatever certificate you obtained from them with the fraudulent Waec result.