So much noise has been generated over the last couple of days regarding General Buhari’s education eligibility. The issue is that we have not taken time to examine the facts on the ground. Instead, we have been generating noise based upon our political affiliations.


As stipulated by the Nigerian Constitution, any seeker of the office of the president must have attained the equivalent of a secondary school certificate before seeking office.

Chapter VI of the constitution makes provision for educational requirement.

131. A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if -

(a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;
(b) he has attained the age of forty years;

(c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and

(d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.


Note that Section 131(d) of the constitution simply states that a person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if he/she has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.

The operative word is “equivalent.” Note that the constitution does not stipulate six credits or any number of credits as in the case of a university entrance requirement nor does it say a candidate must have sat for WAEC examination. It simply says equivalent.
Anyone who completes a secondary school of education will satisfy this requirement whether the person passes with 2, 5, or 10 credits or fails woefully is irrelevant. What is important is for the person to have completed a high school equivalent.

In the era of Buhari, once a person completes a formal high school education, a diploma is issued to the person regardless whether the person sits for WAEC, GCE or Cambridge examination as it was in that period. Was WAEC even in existence during that era? External examinations conducted by WAEC etc are mainly for post high school entrance requirement.

Here are the facts concerning GMB:

1, We know for a fact that GMB attended Barewa College where he was a school prefect. He had been listed as a notable alumni alongside other notable names like Ribadu, Sanusi and many others of that school before all the distraction; thus, we can infer that GMB attended high school up to final year of secondary school as only final year students are normally made prefects. As far as the constitution goes, GMB satisfies Section 131d of the constitution. Note –we are not talking 6 credits or F here.

2, We also know that GMB attended Military college now known as NDA. This is a post secondary education by any standard. For the fact that, GMB attended a post secondary institution and completed the graduation requirement of that institution, and was commissioned as an officer validates his candidacy without any ambiguity.

3, We also know that GMB attended several military institutions that are post secondary school level. Some of the courses he attended are deemed to be equivalent of Masters degree level.

There is no doubt that GMB satisfies the constitutional requirement of Section 131d. All the noise is to divert attention from real issues to intangibles. To suggest that Buhari does not possess a secondary school equivalent with all of his academic credentials is preposterous to say the list.


I’d like to hear substance from both parties rather than all these distractions.

Constitution lawyers in the house are welcome to dissect Section 131d of the Constitution for us

(d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.

Am afraid Buhari has nada.

Stupîd revisionist attempt from Buhari camp.
I will just quote my post from another thread.

When they said ''school certificate level or its equivalent'', they meant School certificate in Nigeria or its equivalent abroad (e.g. GCSE in the UK).

Obviously simple comprehension eludes you. There is no where in the Constitution where GCSE is stated. Maybe you need to familiarize yourself with the Constitution of your country. This topic is above your encephalon capacity.

@OP


I hold nothing against GMB . However , should we go with your analogy , it means that we as a people have replaced facts with fiction ... too bad .
Okay , I for one , my friends and associates knows that I have attended all the ivy league schools in the world and earned PhD in all major disciplines . Going by my sarcastic claim here , if I fail to substantiate my claims with the paper certificates I earned in said institutions , when there is need for me to present them to a constituted authority for validation , will you or any sane person out there take me serious ?

In summary , the only means to validates someone's claim of been formally educated is based on the paper certificate the person possesses. Even though , realistically , we all know that ones knowledge or claim of knowledge in any art/skill cannot be genuine quantified by what is written in a paper certificate .

I believe the Constitution is explicit enough to clarify facts from fictions at it simply states that equivalent of Secondary School certificate. The interpretation is simple enough for unbiased minds. The Constitution does not ask for pass or fail on your WAEC result.

More so, Buhari attended NDA which is a post secondary institution and was commissioned as an officer. That by itself is suffice enough to meet Section 131d.

reporter1:
Obviously simple comprehension eludes you. There is no where in the Constitution where GCSE is stated. Maybe you need to familiarize yourself with the Constitution of your country. This topic is above your encephalon capacity.

GCSE in the UK is an example of an equivalent of school cert in Nigeria.
When the said school cert or its equivalent, they meant an equivalent qualification obtained outside Nigeria.

reporter1:


More so, Buhari attended NDA which is a post secondary institution and was commissioned as an officer. That by itself is suffice enough to meet Section 131d.

those days, northerners with Islamic education were given slots to NDA to fulfil d quota system