A lot has been written about what Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) stipulates regarding minimum academic qualification of presidential candidate in Nigeria and as such relates to the credentials of the Presidential Flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress party, the retired Major General Muahmad Buhari. What many have not really paid attention to is the interpretation of the Section 131 in question. It is true that Section 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution mandates that any candidate that shall qualify to contest for the exalting Presidential seat of the FRN must have acquired academic education up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent. The definition of what is considered equivalent to the School Certificate level education is what many of us have not considered. The writers of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provided a foot note appended to the same constitution defining what are considered equivalent to the School Certificate level education. The followings are what the Section 318.(1); subsection School Certificate or its equivalent means of the 1999 Constitution says: 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; The emphasis is on the (d) subsection of the above cited part of Section 318.(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the FRN. This Subsection (d) unequivocally defines the equivalent of School Certificate as any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission. In other words, any qualification and or documentation submitted by any candidate, and subsequently accepted by the INEC, and adjudged to be equivalent to the School Certificate by the INEC is good enough constitutionally to qualify any candidate to contest for the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. INEC has never informed the public that any presidential candidate for the forthcoming 2015 elections has not provided documentation adjudge to be equivalent to a School Certificate as academic credential to satisfy what it is mandated by the Constitution of the FRN. In view of this, the distractions caused by the academic qualification is highly uncalled for. It is a share waste of our precious time. The election campaign needs to focus on what shall improve the lots of Nigerians rather than fixating on issue that has been adequately addressed by the constitution.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 06:50:36 +0000
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