Ebun-olu Adegboruwa, a lawyer and
human rights activist, has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari is
qualified to contest the presidential election in 2019.
He said the hues and cries over
his eligibility having failed to publicly present his WAEC certificate was
needless.
A statement by Adegboruwa on
Monday noted that section 131, of the 1999 Constitution provided that a person
is qualified for election to the office of President if “he is a citizen of
Nigeria; He has attained the age of forty years; He is a member of a political
party and he is sponsored by that political party; He has been educated up to
at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”
He said: “In my humble view, Gen
Buhari has met all the above requirements.
“Under and by virtue of section
318 (1) of the Constitution: “School Certificate or its equivalent” means-
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 totalling 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.”
The lawyer said the authors of
the Constitution imposed those conditions upon Nigerians and the people have to
accept them and live with them until they were changed.
He added: “Anybody who can read,
write and communicate in English, who has attended military courses, who has
served in the public service of the Federation or even in the Army, is
eminently qualified to aspire to be elected as President of Nigeria.
“That is why I have kept
referring to the President as Maj-Gen in this statement, to show that he’s
qualified, even by virtue of his military rank alone.
“So, it is only a moral burden,
for the President, if he claimed to have attended any secondary school, to
produce the certificate of that school, to the satisfaction of Nigerians, but
that has nothing to do with his legal right to contest election as President.
“The debate is thus unnecessary.
Let’s move on to other issues.”
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These are the stupid illiterate people eating under Buhari they will do everything to cover his shame, useless people full of liars and failure
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