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By Romanus Ugwu
The recent public display of the personal credentials of the 2027 presidential candidates by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) attracted some reactions from Nigerians. The criticism that greeted the statutory electoral requirement was not unconnected with past incidents of doubting and interrogating the genuineness of the credentials the candidates submitted or their blanking out of some of their credentials and names of the institutions they were obtained from.
The publication of the personal credentials of the candidates for next year’s presidential election, in line with the stipulations of the Electoral Act, INEC’s guidelines a few months ago, has generated reactions from the public because some candidates did not reveal their academic credentials from primary to the highest level. They even doubt the electoral umpire’s capacity to wield the big stick to axe any defaulting candidate from participating in the election.
Scrutinizing the credentials of candidates for election is not new in the country. We have passed that route before. It is the norm in every election.
In fact, the scrutinizing of credentials has provided the last lifeline for losers in the primary elections to reclaim the tickets through the courts. This has played out at the governorship, national and state legislative levels until the advent of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the Nigerian political scene in 2014.
Before the APC wrested power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 presidential election, there were few cases of candidates presenting questionable credentials.
Due to lack of proper public scrutiny, there were no rampant cases or widespread controversy of Nigerians questioning the educational qualifications and certificates of the previous occupants of the position of President since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, particularly as it concerns the trio of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. Both ex-president Muhammadu Buhari and incumbent President Bola Tinubu had been subjected to this scrutiny of academic credentials.
The 1999 Constitution (as amended), in encapsulating what qualifies someone from serving in elected office across different sections, particularly academically the person, apart from being a citizen of Nigeria by birth, a member of a political party and sponsored by that party, must have been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.
But, the same certificate controversy, specifically on the schools attended and certificates obtained, including that of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge, has equally been the subject of litigation and discussions since the incumbent President Tinubu indicated interest to contest for the exalted seat during the 2023 presidential election.
Although he managed to wriggle out of the legal encumbrances and controversies during the build-up to his first tenure, it has expectedly resurfaced, rearing its ugly head, especially due to his failure to reflect the names of the schools he attended and certificates obtained, preferring to leave them completely blank.
Expectedly, the issue of the certificate controversy involving the incumbent is one of the most discussed issues ahead of the 2027 presidential election. This is because the president blanked out his primary and secondary school credentials from his INEC EC9 nomination forms. The matter is that president, in his forms, listed only his Chicago State University degree. This has triggered political debate, with some people arguing that full disclosure of foundational schooling is no longer vital for public office.
Going beyond the debate, certain concerned persons have already deployed all manner of warfare, including instituting legal action bent on ensuring that they scuttle President Tinubu’s second-term ambition.
And apart from the opposition political parties and critics demanding transparency, it has resurrected fresh debate over the level of independence of the electoral umpire and its ability to wield the big stick against erring candidates and their political platforms. Although there has not been any court ruling clarifying all the legal encumbrances regarding President Tinubu’s educational credentials, new legal challenges over his eligibility remain active.
Regardless of the litigations that have trailed the allegations of certificate controversy previously, the accused have always escaped the hurdle unhurt, rendering the petitioners helpless.
Expectedly, his supporters and government aides have argued that blanking out specifically primary and secondary education columns on the electoral forms while submitting higher qualifications complies fully with the Electoral Act, claiming that his university attendance has been verified.
Authenticating the claims, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Monday Ubani, recently said that President Tinubu was not constitutionally required to submit his primary and secondary school certificates to INEC, insisting that the omission does not invalidate his nomination.
Speaking amid ongoing debate over Tinubu’s credentials controversy, the senior lawyer said that Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) only requires a presidential candidate to have attained education up to school certificate level or its equivalent, stressing: “There is no legal compulsion that a candidate must disclose or produce his certificate. It is only a moral issue.”
Surprisingly, among the three frontrunners for the 2027 presidential election, only the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, perhaps complied with the requirements on credentials, as the duo of President Tinubu and the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, equally left out certain aspects of the requirements blank.
However, an indicator that the questionable omission might not die a natural death like other similar previous ones emerged recently when the ADC presidential candidate, Atiku, officially instituted a legal suit challenging President Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the poll.
Interestingly, the plots by opposition party candidates and other political stakeholders are certainly not the only obstacles confronting President Tinubu’s candidacy ahead of next year’s poll. However, regardless of the attempts to press him to submission, President Tinubu, a cat with nine lives, who confronted similar, if not fiercer, battles during the last presidential election both as an aspirant and candidate of the APC, has always outmaneuvered them.
Beyond this, the opposition and other stakeholders should rather channel their energies to other matters, including urging the electoral umpire to conduct a free, fair, credible and transparent presidential election next year.
Some of the major threats already identified and highlighted include alleged outdated BVAS device software, uncleaned voter registers still populated with many dead electorate, security risks, localised election violence, vote-buying, campaign hate speech, disinformation and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI).
The INEC boss, Prof. Joash Amupitan, who highlighted the threat assessments recently, also admitted that they could undermine voters’ confidence and pose significant challenges to the electoral process if not effectively addressed. According to him, “Security risks, localised electoral violence, vote-buying, and the rapid proliferation of hate speech, disinformation, and FIMI, pose direct threats to voter confidence.”
And warning that using an outdated operating system to run critical election technology like BVAS could expose the system to cyber and operational risks, Atiku Abubakar, queried: “Why INEC, with its humongous budget cannot update the BVAS software long before the 2027 general elections or even before the series of off-season elections like the Osun State governorship election during which the updated version would have been test-run?”
“Running critical national infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system creates a broad attack surface. To safeguard election integrity, it is vital to perform an independent, comprehensive code and hardware audit of the BVAS devices,” Atiku stated.
Quote: “Beyond this, the opposition and other stakeholders should rather channel their energies to other matters, including urging the electoral umpire to conduct a free, fair, credible and transparent presidential election next year.”
