The ruling Peoples Democratic Party has been unrelenting in its claim that the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer – Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) – lacks the educational wherewithal to seek election as President. But a. Emeritus Professor of Science and Civil-Military Relations, Prof J ‘Bayo Adekanye, says the former Head of State is more than qualified. Prof Adekanye, who is a Fellow, Social Science Academy of Nigeria, insists the fuss is unnecessary and that those lacing their argument with constitutional provisions misread the Statute Book.
Over the last one month or so, the news media, including the various social media platforms, have been inundated with the controversy over whether or not the presidential candidate of the opposition party, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari possesses the minimum educational qualification to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the impending February 14 elections.
The controversy reached its crescendo over the weekend when a legal practitioner, who is a top member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign organisation called a world press conference to publicise the matter about this alleged “certificate scandal.”
Ordinarily, as a thorough-bred academic, and not given to intervening in patently partisan political debates, this writer would have kept quiet and allowed the political process, including waiting for the Supreme Court, ultimately, to pronounce on the matter. But the obligation one feels he/she owes to the Nigerian public as a whole, makes it incumbent upon one to share one’s knowledge and expertise regarding the matter.
Allegation unconstitutional
I submit that the so-called non-possession of educational qualification up to “School Certificate level or its equivalent” allegation against Gen Buhari is a non-issue for the next month’s elections, as the allegation is incorrect, not sufficiently constitutionally informed, and therefore irrelevant to the campaign for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the elections.
The reasons for asserting this are as follows:
Firstly, whereas the retired General might not have possessed a Secondary School Certificate but obtained OCS Mons qualifications from England before being commissioned into the Nigerian Army officer corps, and whereas all Nigerian Army officers of his generation and those before him, who had attended Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot, United Kinddom (UK), were also most unlikely to possess Secondary School Certificate (and in sharp contrast to their counterparts, who having gone to Sandhurst, UK, were in all, likelihood to have had Secondary School Certificate), this does not mean that, through attendance at courses and training in other recognised institutions in the course of their professional career, such officers had not subsequently added other educational qualifications that placed them way beyond the level of the Primary School Leaving Certificate holder.
Secondly, Buhari’s entry into the Nigerian Army Officer Corps (combatant), coincided with the time of introduction of the quota system of selection (May 1961), which was intended among other things, for accommodating some of the lesser-qualified candidates from the North, rather than have the officer corps dominated wholly by candidates from the South.
Standard in military
Before 1961, Nigeria had maintained considerably high educational standards for selection into the army officer corps. Up to that year, a potential officer was required to possess the minimum academic qualifications of credits in four subjects, including English Language, at the West African School Certificate level, or for their equivalent four ordinary passes at General Certificate of Education (GCE, London). It was also during that period that there were recruitment for “combatant commissions.” The six university graduates to be recruited into the officer corps were: Chuckwumeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Victor Banjo, Olufemi Olutoye, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Oluwole Rotimi and Adewale Adegboyega.
After May 1961, however, and with the introduction of the quota system, the alternative qualification of Teachers’ Grade II Certificate, or the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), Stage II Certificate, was stipulated, obviously to accommodate some of the lower-qualified Northern candidates; although, as it turned out, candidates from the South also benefitted from the considerable lowering of standards that resulted from operation of the quota system.
The practice of recruiting graduates into the corps was discontinued by the Alhaji Tafawa Balewa government. And that was the situation for many years after the Civil War (1967-70).
Military trainings not for dropouts
are Thirdly, by the end of 1960, when Nigeria gained independence, the Nigerian Army had as many as 17 members of the emergent national officer corps, possessing Mons OCS qualification or its equivalent. Among the senior officers (combatant) of retired Gen Buhari’s generation or the generation a little before who, like him, had had Mons qualifications or their equivalent were: Olusegun Obasanjo, Olu Bajowa, Joseph Garba, Ibrahim Babangida, George Innih, David Mark, Mohammed Sani Sami, and Sani Abacha. Among the Army’s senior officers (combatant) of retired Gen Buhari’s generation or the generation a little before him, who had gone and passed through the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (RMAS) training or the equivalent, were: Chuckwuma Nzeogwu, Yakubu Gowon, Illiya Bissala, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Murtala Mohammed, Alani Akinrinade.
Of course, apart from the university graduates given “combatant commissions” already referred to, there were those who, having been recruited from the other professions and commissioned into the various technical arms and support services such as medical cum dental, signals, electrical and mechanical engineering, teaching, accountancy and law, would have come in with much higher academic and professional qualifications. Officers in the latter category, who went into the armed forces medical corps for example, included Henry Adefope and Adeniyi Austen-Peters.
But it would be disingenuous to claim that any of these categories of officers, particularly those with OCS Mons qualification or its equivalent, did not have educational qualification that went beyond the Primary School Leaving Certificate level, especially if they had spent more than 20 years in service and risen through the ranks from the first and second lieutenant grade through captain and major to colonel and brigadier and ultimately to general.
Self development after retirement
TrainingIs it impossible that a retired general of Buhari’s generation or the generation before his, having initially possessed OCS Mons type certification or its equivalent at the entry-point of gaining a commission, would have even after retirement, obtained additional educational qualifications such as diploma from one college/accredited institution or the other, a university degree, masters, or even a PhD. This is best illustrated by the most celebrated case of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, an initial ex-Mons graduate, retired general since 1979, and subsequent holder of a number of higher degree certificates including one Diploma and a Masters from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). He is currently registered as a PhD candidate at the country’s premier University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan, Oyo State. He is an accomplished author, two-time head of state (including being the first President of the Federal Republic in second post-military restoration era), and a world statesman, besides being a successful and big-time farmer.
Fourthly, while in service, Buhari had added to his vita other educational and professional qualifications, through attendance of numerous training courses. He had also written a number of promotion examinations to earn his advancement from lower-officer cadre (beginning from cadet, second and first lieutenant) through the middle ranks (captain, major) up to the rank of colonel (that is, if we discountenance with his promotion from colonel through brigadier to general.
In fact, a cliché from the civil-military relations literature has it that in peacetime, there is no real criterion for measuring a soldier’s ability especially after the level of colonel, since promotion after that level is inclined to be by seniority, tempered by sycophancy and nepotism.
Besides, in the Nigerian case, by the time Gen. Buhari reached the rank of colonel, most issues about promotion as well as retirement within the Army, especially after the level of colonel, tended to be regulated by largely political considerations.
Since his retirement from the force, Gen. Buhari has had many honours, distinctions and awards conferred upon him for various meritorious services.
Apart from the steady rise he enjoyed in his military career to the topmost rank of full General and the many key command posts he held in the Army from 1963/64 up to July 1975, the previous political positions, combined with military appointments, which Gen Buhari had held to-date, include having been Military Governor, Northeastern State of Nigeria (August 1975 – March 1976); Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources (March 1976 – June 1978); Military Secretary, Army Headquarters (July 1978 – June 1979); Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (December 1983–August 1985); Member, Council of State, being one of the country’s highest advisory bodies (since August 1985 and till date); and Chairman, Petroleum Trust Fund (1995 – 1998).
Although most of these appointments, particularly the last set, could be described as political and as having been made and received under a period of military rule, there can be no disputing that schedule of duties involved would have required of any occupant of those positions and offices to possess considerable experience and judgment, as well as the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English Language, plus the possession other qualifications beyond the level of Primary Six School Leaving Certificate. Would anyone say Gen Buhari did not possess even these minimal qualifications? But ultimately, is the combination of qualities as earlier stated, not what the educational requirement prescribed for election to the office of the President reduces to?
The latter set of questions, arising from the fourth point just made, leads naturally to the fifth and last observation, which perhaps, is also the most crucial point that I must make for capping the foregoing counter-argument of my intervention in the debate regarding the alleged “certificate scandal”.
It is that Gen Buhari more than satisfies the constitutionally stipulated educational criteria requiring him as a candidate to have “been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent”. For, although Article 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) states among other requirements for election as President that “a person shall be qualified for election to the office of President” if she/he “has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent”, that provision is not meant to be taken in the literal sense or taken out of context, but rather interpreted according to the meaning originally intended by framers of the Constitution. The meaning of the phrase “School Certificate level or its equivalent” is to be found in the Interpretation, Citation and Commencement part of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which begins from Part IV, Article 318 (1), and is meant to have been read alongside Article 131(d).
Constitutional interpretation
In that Interpretation, part of the Constitution can be found defined what the framers of the Constitution meant and intended by that provision, which ought to be read by anyone seeking a fuller understanding of the phrase regarding “School Certificate or its equivalent”.
Curiously, I have not seen or heard anyone make reference to this part of the Constitution in the raging controversy regarding Buhari’s alleged “certificate scandal”.
To quote from Part IV, Article 318 (1) of the Interpretation section of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) expressing the meaning given by the framers in full, then, by the constitutional provision in Article 131(d) requiring any candidate for election to the office of President to have “been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent”, the framers of the Constitution are understood to have meant the possession of any of the following credentials:
“(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 totaling 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.”
Thus, constitutionally, the ultimate test about Gen Buhari’s educational qualification rests on whether or not he possesses “Primary Six School Leaving Certificate” plus “the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English Language.” In the raging debate on the matter, one has not heard anyone on the contending side of the argument to state that even this minimum qualification, the retired General does not possess – that is, if we discount everything else about his professional career life, including the Mons OCS qualification; the various tests and examinations he had written and passed in the course of his advancement through the ranks and up to at least the level of colonel; the many courses and training he had attended at home and abroad both while in service and since retirement; all the previous military and political posts held to-date; the sheer experience, and above all, the record of exemplary public service.
Given all the foregoing, it is hoped that this matter about Gen Buhari’s non-qualification for election to the Office of the President will have been finally settled and permanently laid to rest.
It is in fact a non-issue for campaign purposes and irrelevant to the forthcoming elections.
Possibly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) authorities, including those working in their legal department, already know this.
