Just like the APC has challenged the citizenship of Atiku
Abubakar, the PDP has also challenged the academic qualifications
of Muhammadu Buhari as a pre-condition for contesting the
Presidency.
I wrote a legal opinion on the citizenship of Atiku and many
persons, mostly PDP sympathizers, hailed it as the most well
researched and objective piece they have read since Eve gave Adam
an apple to eat in the garden of Eden; while most APC sympathizer
called me ugly names and labour tirelessly to dodge the clear
constitutional truth staring them in the face.
I just kept smiling. Nigerians only consider you intelligent and
objective when they agree with you; when they don’t, they will call
you unprintable names and accuse you of imagined crimes. Nigerians
just want you to tell them what they want to hear. Truth is only
what they agree with, intelligence is only what they know and
justice is only when they win… But I digress.
Buhari’s certificate.
President Buhari, in place of his credentials submitted an
affidavit to the effect that his academic credentials are with the
Nigerian Army. This is not the first time this is happening and
INEC has consistently been clearing him to run for president.
Many persons have called on INEC to disqualify the president
from contesting for his failure to present his academic credentials
or at least his SSCE Certificate. And now the PDP has also asked
the Election Tribunal to disqualify him on this ground.
But can INEC or the Tribunal disqualify him on this count? Is
the President qualified to run despite not submitting his academic
credentials?
I will answer both questions together by looking at the greatest
law of the land: the Constitution; so that anyone who points to any
other law after reading this will clearly be out of place, for no
law is greater than the Constitution.
Section 131, of the 1999 Constitution, sets out what qualifies a
person to run for the office of President of Nigeria as
follows:
“A. He is a citizen of Nigeria.
B. He has attained the age of forty years.
C. He is a member of a political party and he is sponsored by
that political party.
D. He has been educated up to at least School Certificate level
or its equivalent”.
Now, our focus will be on “D” above. Has President Buhari been
educated up to School Certificate Level or its equivalent? Again
let’s turn to the Constitution to answer this question.
Section 318 (1) of the Constitution defines what School
Certificate or its equivalent means.
See it:
“‘School Certificate or its equivalent’ means:
(a) a Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade
II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or
(b) education up to Secondary School Certificate 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 Independent National Electoral Commission
for periods totalling 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.”
There you have it. You have seen what School Leaving Certificate
or it’s equivalent means. You can see that INEC cannot disqualify
Buhari because non submission of his certificates is not a
constitutional disability.
It is apparent (thus INEC is satisfied) that Buhari can show
“(ii) attendance at courses and training in such institutions as
may be acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission
for periods totalling up to a minimum of one year”
and/or Buhari has demonstrated
“(iii) the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in
the English language to the satisfaction of the Independent
National Electoral Commission”, so this suffices for academic
certificates as required by the Constitution.
Though many persons have argued that certificates don’t
necessarily make good leaders, some of us will still love to see
highly educated persons lead us, but until that is captured in the
Constitution, “the ability to read, write, understand and
communicate in the English language…” is the highest academic
qualification required.
That’s the law. The law is the law.
– First Baba Isa (FBI) is a Legal Practitioner
and writes from Abuja