The Nigerian media space is currently filled with debates about the authenticity of the academic qualification of the APC presidential candidate once again. A repeat of what happened in 2014 when the educational qualification of the then APC presidential candidate was the topic of hot debates. Again, I refuse to participate in this debate the same way I stayed away from it eight years ago when APC Presidential candidate (now President) Muhammadu Buhari’s primary and secondary school certificates were in contention. What is the need of focusing such energy on an issue that the Constitution has given people the leeway to not present a certificate? How did the highest political office in the land have a criterion of school certificate or its equivalent? To teach even in a primary school you need more than a school certificate. The current Constitution was put together albeit contentiously in 1999, yet, school certificate level or its equivalent was what was given for such an exalted position? Instead of talking about the same problem, we should be concerned with the Constitution of Nigeria that opened the gate for the least educated persons amongst us to have the opportunity to contest and govern over us.
According to Section 131, of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, 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.
Although some Nigerians believe that the basis of the Constitution is illegal because it was drafted by the military government without the people’s consent. How can the Supreme law of Nigeria peg school certificate as the least academic qualification for the exalted position of President of the country? How did we consider secondary school certificate holders for Presidency in 1999 when Nigeria had a good population of well-educated and capable individuals from all walks of life?

I am a strong proponent of discussing ways to fix the Constitution to reflect our reality instead of dwelling on whether someone has a certificate or otherwise. We should focus on electing people with competence, character and capacity into the legislative arm of government that would be courageous enough to give Nigerian a brand new constitution that will take care of the many anomalies that we currently have with the 1999 constitution as amended.
A perusal of Section 318(1) of the Constitution further reveals sad details on what constitutes school certificate. By law, “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;

Can you imagine the most sacred document of our nation stating that anyone with a primary school certificate is eligible to contest for the most exalted political position in Nigeria as long as the Independent National Electoral Commission is satisfied with the person’s ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language? If a janitor with a Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent work in private or public service for 10 years cleaning without even doing anything beyond just cleaning, he is as eligible to run for President of Nigeria as a Professor. Whereas in Nigeria, you are only qualified for an entry job when you have not just a university degree, but also National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate, a minimum of second-class upper degree is mostly stipulated.

We need capable persons with character in the legislature to make laws that reflect our present situation and rid the Constitution of obstinate provisions that have held the nation back.

We should concern ourselves more with the fact that the biggest law of our land enables the worst among us to rule over us and not concerning ourselves with who present their certificates or not. This certificate saga is not one for banter; it is a major issue that should make us weep for our dear nation. We must begin assessing persons who will fill up the legislature to give us a progressive constitution and an active judiciary that will reflect the rule of law and justice.

The Judiciary is vested with the power to interpret laws. Sadly, Nigeria has not seen as much activism as is required of the Judiciary when entertaining cases or interpreting the law. A lot of wrongs and anomalies would have been fixed if our judges displayed judicial activism.

In the case of Terver Kakih Vs PDP & Ors (2014) 15 NWLR (PART 1430) 374, the Court held that submission or presentation of certificate is not the requirement of S. 177(d) of the Constitution as regards the Gubernational screening process. The process of screening requires the candidate to fill in his qualification in the form and to swear to a verifying affidavit that the information contained in Form CF001 was accurate. The court held in the case of Ocholi Onojo James, SAN V INEC & Ors (2015) 12 NWLR (PART 1474) 538 that the most critical consideration to take while interpreting the provisions of the Constitution is the intention of the lawmaker. In Heydon’s case (1584), Lord Poke while defining the Mischief rule as a canon of interpretation, held that the intention of the parliament must be sought in order to use the law to suppress the mischief and advance the remedy.

It is high time we focused on getting a Constitution that guarantees the progress of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not the progress of a few persons.