I am just wondering why anyone in his or her right senses will stress themselves to forge a certificate for the purpose of contesting elections in Nigeria.
At 25 years, you can run for House of Reps, House of Assembly, and Councilor.
At 30 years old, you can run for Chairman of LGA.
At 35 years old, you can run for Senate, Governorship and President.
And the minimum educational qualification is education up to school certificate level or its equivalent. Finito!
And according to Section 318(1) of our Constitution, School Certificate or its equivalent mean:
(a) A Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate.
(b) Education up to Secondary School Certificate level.
(c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent plus:
(1) 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.
(11) 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.
(111) The ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
(d) Any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
So even if you have a First School Leaving Certificate and have been doing some real job or service in any part of the Federation, even if it is certification from NGO trainings, even if it is carpentry or tailoring training or hair dressing and you have any form of certificate that can be accepted by INEC, and you have attained the constitutional age, you are eligible to run for election.
It is the standard in many places in the world. It is so because certificates do not make good leaders. Certificates do not define good leaders. Some of the world’s best leaders had no formal education and some of the world’s worst leaders were the most educated.
If you are convinced that you have leadership qualities, present yourself and let the voters decide whether they want you or not. Ideally, voters don’t vote for certificates, they vote for manifestoes and ideas.
This is exactly the reason I am still wondering why people still forge certificates to run for elections when the law is clear on what you need to run.
If you are politically inclined to run for office and have attained the age, and you know you will be accepted by your people, please don’t forge, use whatever certificate you already have and run.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.