By Dr. George Agbakahi
I have read with considerable amusement the social media outburst by Mr. Kenneth Okonkwo, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, in which he advances the tired, judicially interred fallacy that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is disqualified from office because certain primary and secondary school certificates were not exhibited to INEC.
Mr. Okonkwo, a man who wears the dual caps of Nollywood thespian and constitutional commentator, has once again mistaken a movie script for the law reports. Let me offer him a free remedial class in Nigerian constitutional law, and some elementary logic, if he has the patience.
1. The Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s Consistent Interpretation thereof, Settles the Matter
Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution exhaustively lists the qualifications for the office of President: citizenship by birth, attainment of the constitutional age, membership and sponsorship by a political party, and possession of at least a School Certificate or its equivalent. Section 137 then sets out the exclusive grounds for disqualification. Conspicuously absent from either section is any requirement to “produce a primary school leaving certificate” or “tender a secondary school testimonial.” The Constitution is a self-contained code; Mr. Okonkwo cannot amend it by tweet.
Section 318 thereof defines “School Certificate or its equivalent” in deliberately expansive terms that recognise multiple pathways to satisfying the threshold, which includes a degree from a recognised university. The Supreme Court has driven this point home with sledgehammer consistency. In Atiku Abubakar & Anor v INEC & Ors (2019) SC.1211/2019, where the appellant presidential candidate challenged Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the February 23, 2019 presidential election, as affirmed by the Presidential Election Petition Court (Court of Appeal) judgment delivered on September 11, 2019, on the grounds of non-compliance and widespread irregularities, among them non-submission of a physical WAEC certificate to satisfy educational eligibility as required under Section 131(1)(d) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that Muhammadu Buhari was constitutionally qualified for the 2019 election, confirming that candidates are not required to physically attach school certificates to INEC form CF001, provided they meet the educational threshold. The court further affirmed that holding a higher qualification, such as a university degree or serving at senior levels, sufficiently demonstrates that a candidate has been educated up to the requisite standard without needing to tender a primary or secondary school certificate. Thus, a university degree constitutes proof that the candidate has been educated up to the prescribed level.
Similarly, in Oyetola v Adeleke (2023) 14 NWLR (Pt. 1903) 155, the petitioner challenged the return of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the duly elected Governor of Osun State, contending, inter alia, that the respondent was constitutionally disqualified from contesting the election on the ground that he had submitted a forged secondary school testimonial and other documents allegedly containing material irregularities, including the reference to “Osun State” on a document purportedly issued in 1988, at a time when Osun State had not yet been created and was still part of the old Oyo State.
In response, Adeleke adduced evidence establishing that he was the holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice, obtained in 2021 from Atlanta Metropolitan State College in the United States. The principal issue before the Supreme Court was whether the respondent satisfied the educational qualification prescribed by Section 177(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), namely, that a candidate for the office of Governor must be “educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”
The Supreme Court held that the phrase “School Certificate or its equivalent,” as defined under Section 318(1) of the Constitution, is not to be construed narrowly as requiring the possession or production of a West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE/WAEC) certificate or any other specific secondary school certificate. Rather, the constitutional provision is to be accorded a broad and purposive interpretation. The Court reaffirmed that the requisite educational qualification may be established by evidence demonstrating that a candidate has been educated up to the prescribed level or its equivalent, including, but not limited to, school attendance records, testimonials, proof of literacy and proficiency in reading, writing, understanding, and communicating in the English language, as well as the possession of higher academic qualifications, such as a university degree, from which attainment of the constitutional minimum educational threshold may reasonably be inferred.
President Tinubu holds a verified Bachelor of Science degree from Chicago State University: a higher qualification. Under the combined force of Atiku and Adeleke, that degree is not merely a method of proving eligibility; it is the constitutional gold standard. The demand for an unbroken documentary chain from primary school to university is a forensic fantasy rejected by the apex court. The 2023 Presidential Election Petition Court and the Supreme Court, in their judgments of 2023, exhaustively examined and dismissed the certificate forgery allegations, holding that President Tinubu was eminently qualified. That judgment is final, binding, and constitutes res judicata. Only a person who treats court rulings like deleted scenes from a film imagines he can resurrect a settled matter by shouting on social media.
2. Chicago State University Has Authenticated the President’s Record Under Oath
Mr. Okonkwo asserts, with characteristic economy of truth, that the university “publicly declared [the certificate] did not emanate from it.” That is a demonstrable falsehood.
Under Discovery Orders of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2023, the Registrar of Chicago State University, Mr. Caleb Westberg, testified under oath and produced official records confirming that Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended the university, graduated in 1979 with a B.Sc. in Business Administration (Accounting major), that the diploma presented to INEC was consistent with the university’s format and records, and that he graduated with a cumulative grade point average equivalent to a First Class classification under the Nigerian system. No university official has ever disowned the certificate; that fiction exists solely in opposition propaganda. A lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar should know that sworn testimony from the issuing institution is the highest form of documentary authentication. Instead, Mr. Okonkwo peddles an internet rumour as if it were a certified true copy.
3. The Real Agenda: Distraction from Unassailable Reforms
The transparent motive behind this recycled certificate theatre is not fidelity to law but desperation to manufacture a controversy where none exists, because the opposition has no substantive answer to President Tinubu’s transformational record. While Mr. Okonkwo rehearsed his lines, the Nigerian economy delivered:
• GDP growth of 3.87% in 2025, with nominal GDP reaching a historic ₦441.5 trillion, accelerating to 3.89% in Q1 2026.
• Gross FAAC revenue of ₦18.72 trillion in the first half of 2026, yielding distributable revenue of ₦12.59 trillion: a 24.4% year-on-year surge, flooding state and local government coffers as never before.
• Headline inflation falling from a peak of 34.8% in January 2025 to 19.2% in June 2026, on a clear trajectory toward single digits.
• Sovereign credit rating upgrades, including Fitch’s revision of Nigeria’s outlook to Positive, and $23.7 billion in investment commitments in 2025: a 52% increase year-on-year.
These are not soundbites; they are the measurable outcomes of difficult, structural reforms: fuel subsidy removal, FX unification, and fiscal discipline, that previous administrations lacked the courage to implement. Unable to argue with results, the opposition serves Nigerians a reheated bowl of judicially-buried certificate fiction while citizens ask about the price of garri.
Conclusion
The allegation that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is disqualified because he did not display primary and secondary school certificates is constitutionally baseless, legally dead under the combined weight of Atiku, Adeleke, and the 2023 Supreme Court judgments, factually disproved by sworn university testimony, and procedurally foreclosed by Mr. Okonkwo’s complete lack of standing.
He should confine his theatrics to the silver screen, where suspension of disbelief is an artistic virtue, not a constitutional argument. The Presidency will remain focused on building a Nigeria where the certificates that truly matter are the ones our young people will earn in a growing, stable, and prosperous economy.
Dr. George Agbakahi writes from
Abuja, Nigeria.
