The vindication of Salisu Buhari and Kemi Adeosun
Salisu Buhari and Kemi Adeosun, a former speaker of the House of Representatives and a former finance minister, respectively, had at different times, made certain claims that failed woefully when subjected to integrity test.
Mr. Buhari, a Kano politician had claimed he was born on January 3, 1963, got a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1990; a Diploma in Accountancy from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 1988, and served under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1991.
Investigations later showed Mr. Buhari lied not only about his age but also about the qualifications he claimed to have obtained, including his NYSC discharge certificate.
He was actually born on January 3, 1970, making him 29 years at the time he contested and won election to the House, whereas the Constitution pegs the age limit for a member of the House at 30.
It was also revealed Mr. Buhari truly got admission into ABU but was later expelled because he falsified his credentials. Records at the time showed he never went to the University of Toronto in Canada and did not take part in NYSC, according to The News Magazine.
On her part, Mrs. Adeosun was born in 1967 in London, England, to Nigerian parents from Ogun State. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of East London and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Financial Management from the University of London. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1994. Despite her successful career in the UK, she decided to return to Nigeria where she was appointed Finance Commissioner in her home state in 2011 and a federal Minister in 2015.
However, in 2018, a certain Premium Times reporter, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, published an investigative report which showed Mrs. Adeosun forged her NYSC exemption certificate. She admitted the “mistake” and resigned from the federal cabinet and returned to the UK.
These two high-ranking Nigerians lost their jobs because of certificate scam and they did not wait for the court to interpret the provisions of the Constitution, which provides they only needed an affidavit or the ability to read and write in the English Language to do their jobs.
It is not only Mr. Buhari and Mrs. Adeosun that have lost their jobs because of their inability to show proof of their educational and allied qualifications; millions of Nigerians have suffered worst fates.
Every employer of labour including Nigeria’s Federal Civil Service Commission requires prospective employees to show original copies of their certificates during interviews.
Currently, most of the fulltime jobs advertised on the Commission’s website require a minimum of Ordinary and Higher Diplomas and first degrees. The Commission does allow people who could merely read and write to be employed in the civil and public services in the country.
Click to view the requirements for jobs under the Federal Civil Service Commission Federal Civil Service Commission Recruitment 2019/2020 Application – www.fedcivilservice.gov.ng (Please embed)
It is almost impossible to land any serious job that promises substantial wage without a degree in Nigeria. Fresh graduates earn less than N60, 000 as monthly perks.
Today, more and more employers of labour and even the Nigerian government are looking for premium graduates and diploma holders to hire.
That ruling by Justice Garba and co
While Justice Mohammed Garba-led Presidential Election Petition Tribunal might have delivered its “landmark” judgment on the case between Atiku Abubakar and Mohammadu Buhari, the palpable damage it would cause the nation’s educational and labour sectors cannot be immediately quantified.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mr. Buhari the winner of the February 23 presidential election it conducted.
Mr. Buhari’s closest rival and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his party had challenged the decision of the electoral umpire.
Among the grounds canvased before Justice Garba-led PEPT in their 141-page petition, Mr. Abubakar and the PDP had insisted that President Buhari was at the time of the election, not qualified to contest.
They also argued that Mr. Buhari submitted to INEC, affidavits containing false information of a fundamental nature to boost his qualification for the election.
In their submissions, the petitioners held that “all the purported evidence led by the second respondent (Buhari) to prove that he attended a Secondary School or a Primary School or that he attended some courses is irrelevant because he did not rely on any of those purported qualifications in exhibit P1, he relied on primary school certificate, WASC and officer cadet.
“Equally futile is his attempt to prove that he can speak and write in the English language.
That is all irrelevant to his inability to produce his primary school certificate, secondary school certificate or WASC and his Officer Cadet qualification, whatever that means. Officer Cadet is not a qualification or certificate under the Constitution and Electoral Act; nor is it known to any law,” the petitioners stated.
But in a 295-page ruling, Justice Garba in a lead judgment unanimously concurred by four other justices; dismissed in its entirely, all the five grounds brought before the Tribunal by Mr. Abubakar and the PDP.
Of interest to many Nigerians and even friends of Nigeria is the position of the Tribunal that candidates for elections do not need to present their educational certificates to prove their qualification for the offices sought.
Livy Uzoukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and lead counsel to Mr. Abubakar, had eruditely argued that by not attaching his educational certificates to INEC’s Form CF001, Mr. Buhari had violated a key condition of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended and his election should be upturned and his client declared winner.
Justice Garba and his colleagues on the panel disagreed vehemently with Mr. Abubakar and PDP’s counsels on the issue.
“With profound respect to the learned senior counsel, his position is faulty because the said Form CF001 specifically asked the 2nd respondent (Buhari) the schools he attended with qualifications attained or obtained in order to determine whether the 2nd respondents has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent as stipulated in Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution as amended,” Justice Garba said.
“The petitioners relied on Section 76 and 31(4) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended that it is compulsory for the 2nd respondent to attach evidence of qualification to Form CF001.”
The court cited the provisions of Section 31(4) of the Electoral Act, “Any person may apply to the Commission for a copy of nomination form, affidavit and any other document submitted by a candidate at an election and the Commission shall, upon payment of prescribed fee, issue such a person with a certified true copy of document within 14 days.”
The learned justice also cited Section 31(2) of the Electoral Act 2010, which provides that “the list or information submitted by each candidate shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidate at the Federal High Court of a state or the Federal Capital Territory indicating that he has fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election to the office.”
Based on the above, the tribunal held that the reasonable meaning of the above provision is that a candidate can list information concerning evidence of his qualifications or other relevant information about himself, without attaching certificates.
In a note of finality, Justice Garba-led panel said, “The demand or information required in Form CF001 cannot be more or higher than the statutory requirement,” apparently meaning that what is required is a list of qualifications supported by an affidavit and not a real certificate as required by INEC in Form CF001.
To drive home its position, the Tribunal said, “the law is firmly settled that a candidate is not required by the Constitution or Electoral Act to attach certificates to Form CF001 before the candidate can be considered or adjudged to have the requisite educational qualifications to contest elections.”
The court cited Terver Kakih versus PDP (2014) 15 NWLR (part 1430), where Justice Galadima held among other things that “as regards secondary school certificate examination; it is enough, in my view that one attended secondary school certificate level, i.e. without passing or obtaining the certificate,” and concluded that the provision of Electoral Act cannot subvert the provisions of Sections 131, 137 and 318 (d) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
What the Tribunal enacted through its ruling is that one does not need to show or present a certificate to demonstrate their educational qualifications while seeking public office.
That ruling, observers argue, has wide ranging implications not only to politics but the nation’s labour and educational sectors.
It is not, however, known whether the justices who concurred with the lead judgment of Mr. Garba realised the damage they have collectively done to the country’s already battered image occasioned by malignant corruption and ridiculous impunity.
Nigeria is facing a situation where a University loafer would swear to an affidavit in a Federal High Court claiming to have obtained a Ph.D and tender the affidavit as proof of his qualification to an employer of labour.
Where an employer insists on the candidate’s original certificate, he will pull out the ruling of the Justice Garba-led Tribunal and threaten litigation.
The loafer would insist that there is nowhere in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) that says one must tender copies of credentials to get a job.
A lot of Nigerians will henceforth argue that asking for copies of credentials or presenting original copies thereof, to be sighted before employment, admission into institutions of higher learning, recruitment into the police, the Armed Forces and even to stand an election, is a subsidiary condition inferior to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
Those who canvass that position will readily cite Atiku/PDP vs INEC & others (2019) per Garba Mohammed JCA.
Between the PEPT ruling and Dangote’s drivers
While the Justice Garba-led tribunal insists the person who leads Nigeria as its president does not need to present his certificates to stand election, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has insisted only graduates with verifiable certificates and skill can drive his heavy-duty trucks.
Mr. Dangote is the President of Dangote Group and a graduate of Business Studies and Administration from the Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
From all indications, Africa’s richest man does not take chances when it comes to making strategic business decisions and that includes the hiring of his employees.
In 2012, Mr. Dangote initiated the graduate executive truck drivers’ scheme which many had at the time considered weird. He might have been exasperated by the services of many of his truck drivers who were perhaps, school leavers and even people with little or no education.
The decision to hire graduates and train them as drivers might have also been taken to ensure the life span of his heavy-duty trucks was elongated as well as cut down on the number of fatal accidents involving his vehicles.
To kick off the programme, the company had advertised for 100 graduate drivers’ positions but they got a rude shock. Over 13, 000 graduates turned in applications. It was not only the number of graduates, who applied to drive trucks for the billionaire businessman that was shocking but also the fact six of the applicants were PhD holders, 704 Master degree holders and over 8,460 Bachelor degree holders.
Before anyone was handed an appointment letter, the company made it compulsory for applicants to produce their degree certificates as well as National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge or exemption certificates.
While Mr. Dangote would not take chances while hiring his heavy-duty truck drivers, Justice Garba and his colleagues, as well as the framers of the 1999 Constitution, lowered the standard to the extent that anyone who can read and write in English Language can become the president of Nigeria.
Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution
In a country where Ph.D holders are scampering to drive heavy-duty trucks for Africa’s richest man, the Constitution of Nigeria prescribes the minimum qualification of its president as school certificate.
For the avoidance of doubt, Section 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution provides that a person aspiring to be Nigeria’s President should have “been educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent.”
However, Section 318 defines the school certificate or its equivalent as:
(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.
From all indications, the 1999 Constitution was deliberately enacted to allow every Nigerian to aspire to the highest office of the land and that is not a really bad idea.
The bad news, however, is in a world that is increasingly knowledge-driven, science-oriented and technologically advanced; a leader with only an ability to read and write in the English Language would not be a good option.
A peep into other lands
Unlike Nigeria, the United States has not imposed any specific educational requirement for its President. In fact, out of the 45 presidents who have led the country including the incumbent, Donald Trump, only nine never attended the University. Most US presidents have extensive education and forceful career backgrounds that prepares them for an executive role.
According to Tom Murse in ThoughtCo, “It’s a pretty extraordinary achievement for a President without a college degree to be elected today.”
Continuing, he wrote, “Every chief executive elected to the White House in modern history has held at least a Bachelor’s degree. Most have earned advanced degrees or Law degrees from Ivy League schools. In fact, every President since George H.W. Bush has held a degree from an Ivy League university.”
Harry Truman was the last US President without a college degree and that was in 1953. The 33rd President of the United States, Truman attended Business College and Law school but graduated from neither.
The other US Presidents without degrees were: Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Harrison, who attended both Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; he didn’t graduate from either. Others are Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley.
From 1953, every White House occupant has earned at least a Bachelor’s degree and it is very unlikely the likes of Lincoln and Washington, who were very successful in their times would be elected by American today.
Caitlin Anderson in an article on CollegePlus, an organization working with students to earn degrees, said, “Our information-saturated society believes education must take place in the traditional classroom setting. Having a college degree makes candidates attractive. It makes anyone attractive. It’s essential.”
The United Kingdom has no specific educational qualification for who becomes its Prime Minister. From Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister who served from 1721-1742, majority of other UK Prime Ministers have acquired University degrees.
Mr. Walpole had attended King’s College, Cambridge and studied Law but never graduated. However, John Major is the last UK Prime Minister who had no degree. In fact, Mr. Major who served from 1990-1997 attended Rutlish High School and did a correspondence course in Banking. All other Prime Ministers after him have Master’s degrees.
Over 95 per cent of Canadian Prime Ministers have University degrees starting from John Macdonald.The current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has two Bachelor‘s degrees, one in Literature and the other in Education.
In Ghana, there is no prescribed educational qualification for who becomes the country’s president but many of its democratically elected Presidents have earned University degrees, except Jerry Rawlings. After President Rawlings, all other Presidents of Ghana have earned University degrees.
While Africa’s richest man would only entrust his trucks to graduates including Doctorate and Master’s degree holders, it is unfortunate the PEPT is now saying an affidavit could suffice to get any job including the highest office in Nigeria.
And that is the more reason the Federal Government and Nigerians should apologise to Mr. Salisu Buhari and Kemi Adeosun, who could have merely sworn to an affidavit and kept their jobs instead of forging certificates that landed them in trouble.
