ngoziamara:
I HAVE tried to withhold myself from writing on the above subject particularly as it affects the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
But I couldn't, as a matter of fact, people who are not well informed about this subject must be well educated otherwise, they continue talking about something they don't know what the real issues are. There's a saying that, " who is not imformed is deformed ".

It is against the above introduction that I like to lend my voice in putting the records straight. Certificate qualification especially WASSC or its equivalent as is required by law is well spelt out in the 1999 Constitution Of The Federal Republic OF Nigeria As Amended.
Section 131 talks about general qualification for election to the office of President, but, paragraph (d) of section 131 shallowly deals with certificate qualification, where it specifically mentions that " HE HAS TO BE EDUCATED UP TO AT LEAST SCHOOL CERTIFICATE LEVEL OR ITS EQUIVALENT".

But, Part IV: Interpretation, Citation and Commencement precisely section 318, " School certificate or its equivalent " means -
(a) a Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade ll Teacher's Certifiacte, the City and Guilds Certificate; or
(b) education up to Secondary School Certifiacte level; or
(c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent and --

(i) service in the public or private sector in the Federation in any capacity acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for a minimum of ten years, and

(ii) attendance at courses and training in such institutions as may be acceptable to the Independed National Electoral Commission for periods up to a minimum of one year, and

(iii) the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission; and

(d) any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission."

Going by the explanations given by the above sections of our constitution, I want to believe that my readers and followers of Nigerian origin are now fully aware that qualification for election to the office of President is not by provision of a School Certificate only, the phrase " or its equivalent " talks about :
1. someone that worked for a recognised institution by INEC is qualified,
2. someone who in the course of his work was trained for a period up to one year is qualified,
3. someone who has FSLC is qualified,
4. someone who is able to read, write, understand and communicate in English language is qualified, and
5. someone who is certified by INEC is qualified.

In other words, certificate qualification taking about WASSCE for example without factoring the phrase "or its equivalent" will make anyone making this an issue look and appear ignorant of the constitutional requirement on certificate qualification.

But my worry is that, even those who ought to know better and teach others claim ignorant of these sections of our constitution by writing and posting baseless arguments.

With reference to the case of President Muhammadu Buhari, where anyone informed or uninformed, would talk about his unqualification, is where he presented a fake certificate, but where he submitted an affidavit and as a matter of fact, served in a prestigious institution like the Nigerian Army where he rose in rank to a Major General I don't think anyone on earth can doubt if he has the qualifications to stand for election in Nigeria. This is a man that attended overseas courses time and again and again. If Muhammadu Buhari got enlisted into the Nigerian Army in 1963 and retired in 1985, suffice to say that Buhari worked for more ten years as required by our constitution.

By this time in 2014, tongues wagged especially on paper qualification of Muhammadu Buhari but he won the election. I recall the mood then, people like FFK and few others were bent on talking about certificate as if it was an issue. Today, people have left the real of governance - projects delivery and are busy talking about what the emergence of Buhari as President has put to rest.

Besides, is our problem certificate or ability to perform a task? Go to our institutions of higher learning you will find millions with PhDs in Petroleum Engineering and we still depend on the Western world to explore and exploit our mineral resources. Refining the mineral resources has able unattainable for decades.

For those that care to hear, only the Independent National Electoral Commission can disqualify a candidate on the ground of certificate except on the ground of forgery, irrexpective of the office unless we amend the constitution today.