The director of strategic communications of President Muhammadu Buhari, 2019 presidential campaign, Festus Keyamo, on Monday, said that having a WAEC certificate was not a prerequisite to becoming a governor or President in Nigeria.
In a series of tweets on his verified Twitter handle @fkeyamo which he termed “free lecture”, Keyamo noted that there were other levels of qualification for the office of the president.
“There are other levels of qualifications to run for the office of president. In fact, if you have occupied the public office for a reasonable length of time, by the provisions of the Constitution, you do not even need a WAEC certificate to become president of Nigeria.”
He noted also that Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution defined school certificate or its equivalent to mean primary 6 School Leaving Certificate plus the ability to just speak, write, understand and communicate in English language to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
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“Yes. Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution defines ‘School Certificate or its equivalent’ to mean primary 6 School Leaving Certificate plus the ability to just speak, write, understand and communicate in English language to the satisfaction of INEC. No WAEC certificate is needed.
“By the definition of “School Certificate or its equivalent” in section 318 of the 1999 constitution, you don’t need a WAEC certificate to become President or Governor, but if you present a FORGED WAEC or other certificate to INEC for any office you will be disqualified.”
The tweets were in reaction to the Peoples Democratic Party’ s position that President Buhari’s was not qualified to run for the presidency on account of the controversy surrounding his WAEC certificate.
He made veiled references to the case of WAEC certificate forgery brought against the Governorship candidate of the PDP in Osun, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
According to him, there was no reason to forge a certificate that was not relevant to the office one was running for.