Supreme Court backs Buhari over certificate saga

The Supreme Court on Friday held that President Muhammadu Buhari was right not to have submitted his academic credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The apex court stated this while giving a reason for dismissing the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

According to the court, Buhari was eminently qualified to contest the last presidential election.

The court held that contrary to claim by the appellants, no law requires a candidate to submit his/her academic certificates to the electoral umpire before being allowed to contest the election.

The Supreme Court also held that the constitution does not require one to possess a secondary school certificate to be qualified to run for the presidency.

It added that schooling up to secondary school, without possessing the result of the final examination was sufficient.

The Supreme Court further explained that Buhari did not only show that he has a secondary certificate and rose to the rank of Major General in the Army, attended military training, became the nation’s Head of State, could communicate in English and possessed a primary school leaving certificate, all to the satisfaction of INEC.

The three-man panel of the court upheld the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, on the issues of Buhari’s qualification and possession of relevant certificates.

The apex court resolved issues 1 and 2 against the PDP and Atiku.