The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended stated in a very clear terms in Section 131(d) that a person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President of Nigeria if he/she 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 that has attained or acquired education leading to a certification by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) or its equivalent eligible to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However,by the above constitutional provision,it is pertinent to note that WAEC certificate is not absolute for the election of a President in the subsection. It unambiguously utilized the word “at least” which destroyed the absoluteness of WASC as a requirement. By this position, must O’ Level; that is, WAEC certificate be presented as academic requirement? The answer is emphatically NO. Any aspirant with superior certificates needs not present WAEC certificate to the electoral umpire.Thus,aspirants with Diploma, Bachelors, Masters or doctorate degrees or their equivalent in military need not present WAEC certificate which is simply the least academic requirement to participate in the race.
The Nigerian media influencers has taken over the cyber space with the Conversations and, indeed, controversy about the APC Presidential Candidate in the 2023 Presidential elections Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu educational qualification are not new.They were a major issue during the 2015 elections that trailed President Muhammadu Buhari WAEC Certificates which was later found when he eventually won the overwhelmingly the Presidential elections.No doubt because there was widespread disenchantment around the media especially those who narrowed their thoughts that certificates will led to President Muhammadu Buhari disqualification failed to built their campaigns on issue base just to end up as narrators.
As for the populace particularly the electorates, national interests 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 PDP’s watch of nearly two decades and the present APC administration.The person in question was a Nigerian Governor and legislator who had a fortune of making and implementing laws at different occasions.
Holistic appraisals will give astute directions whether to go for Tinubu’s APC,Atiku’s PDP,Peter Obi’s LP and Kwankwaso’s NNPP. He was a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria the highest law making body in the country and was an Executive Governor for two consecutive terms overseeing the implementation of sound laws ,policies and programs that spring up Lagos State today as a destination of business in Africa and nerve centre of the Nigerian economy. Is this basis for conversation today? NO, The discussion has been completely shifted to him not having primary and secondary certificates even with his Bsc in Accountancy from the Chicago University that is second none in Nigeria.
Nigerians have been busy for nothing since 2015 ,2019 and heading towards 2023 general elections which is akin to indolence. At this point, campaigns should be extensive, policy and issues 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,promoting candidates who can bring to an end of the insurgency in the North East,Farmers-Herders clashes,Kidnapping for ransom,wealth and jobs creation through diversification and above all restore the Unity and harmony of Nigeria as a single entity alongside the Nigerian people where tribes and religion are not an identity.
Therefore, issues should shift to competence, credibility and ideology for service delivery. The question that mostly dominates our minds is the baseless issues that help no one in the end. Tinubu,Atiku Abubakar,Peter Obi and Kwankwaso as frontrunners in the 2023 should be engage in debate like Former President of USA Donald trump and the incumbent President Joe Biden instead of the name swinging and name calling on the media platforms anchored by politicians of likeminds.For example, by APC’s scorecard, has the country been realistically, economically secured, restructured, and significantly making progress to necessitate its reelection for consolidation and progression?
On the other hand, does the leading opposition, PDP now have what it takes to lead the country distinct from its 16 years of administration? Does it now have significant blueprints or reviewed policies for the people different from the typical rhythm with no economic foresight? What policies or strategies can it guarantee to put in place towards ensuring that the nation does not revert to the era of a ‘leading consuming-nation, fantastically-corrupt state and colossally looting dispensation’? The above questions should dominate the squabbles in the political terrain other than spending our precious time questioning what is not questionable.
According Wikipedia,Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu was born on 29 March 1952.He attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos and Children’s Home School in Ibadan, South West of Nigeria.He then proceeded to the United States in 1975, where he studied first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago, Illinois, and then at Chicago State University. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.Tinubu worked for years with the American companies Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, and GTE Services Corporation.After returning to Nigeria in 1983, Bola Tinubu joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, and later became an executive of the company.He was elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1992 under the Platform of SDP and later Governor in 1999 and re-elected for the second term in 2007.
The Media pundits should have focus more on how he assembled the best brains in his cabinet that fashioned out a 24-year Development Blueprint for Lagos State. in five years,Tinubu had awarded contracts for 422 road projects, and 308 were completed.He repositioned the health sector through heavy financial and human capital investment by building more General Hospitals and introduced free health policy for children below 18 and adults above 65 years.He changed the face of Lagos from been the dirties city to cleanest one,He made Lagos a home for all Nigerians where both rich and the poor roll for a living. As a mentor,He built an empire and political dynasty of leaders across the length and bread of Nigeria.
Tinubu has been a subject of attacks long before he declared his intention to run for the Office of the President of Nigeria. He survived the Military regimes for fighting for the course of democracy, he survived Obasanjo political face off,He led a revolution with the ACN-APC merger to unseat a seating government,He overwhelmingly and convincingly won the APC Presidential Primaries amidst betrayals plots,He won the campaign of collumny against media plots of his health and he won the campaign of collumny concerning his running mate. It seem the Media cannot consume Tinubu’s political ambition of becoming the President of Nigeria in 2023.Tinubu’s pedigree and track records of achievements in services to humanity cannot be sacrifice to please the power brokers who has failed to groom worriors other than media influencers.
A Nigerian whose name has these doziers of success stories then it requires only a typical ignorant to believes that he has no Primary or Secondary school certificates.He has proved himself to be a fountain of economic,political and educational knowledge and this should not be debated unless one is on the other side of the coin.Chicago University only accepts the best brains that is why the Jagaban is a master of the game and stands for the best to compete.
Get your PVC.
Danaudi,National President of Arewa Youths advocate for Peace and Unity Initiative,Writes from Bauchi via : [email protected].
