The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s primary and secondary school certificates were not included among the credentials published for presidential candidates ahead of the 2027 general election.
A senior INEC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the commission published only documents submitted by candidates and lacked the authority to alter or independently question the credentials presented to it.
“We only published what was submitted to the commission. We don’t have any authority to question those ones. I mean, our own is just to publish so that anybody who has an objection can raise issues with what we’ve published,” the official said.
The clarification followed public reactions to the credentials released by INEC, after the documents attributed to Tinubu did not include certificates from his primary and secondary schools.
According to the official, the publication of candidates’ credentials is intended to allow members of the public to scrutinise the documents and raise objections through the appropriate channels where they have concerns.
The development comes amid renewed scrutiny of the academic credentials of the President ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Separately, a legal practitioner and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kalu Kalu, was reported to have submitted a petition against Tinubu to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday.
Kalu alleged in the petition that the President submitted false academic credentials to INEC and failed to disclose the primary and secondary schools he attended as required for the 2027 presidential election.
A video shared on X by Paul Ibe, a former media aide to ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, purportedly showed Kalu submitting the petition.
Kalu reportedly urged the European Union to intervene over what he described as an alleged subversion of Nigeria’s constitutional order.
However, the allegations contained in the petition have not been established by a court.
INEC’s explanation, meanwhile, indicates that the commission’s role in the publication exercise was limited to making available the credentials submitted by the candidates, leaving objections to be raised through the relevant legal and electoral processes.
