The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given reasons why it failed to publish primary and secondary school certificates of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Recall that INEC had recently published credentials of presidential candidates ahead of the 2027 general election.
Speaking to The PUNCH, a top official of the electoral umpire said INEC only published the documents submitted by the candidates and had no authority to question or alter the credentials presented to it.
According to the INEC official, the credentials were published to allow Nigerians scrutinise the documents and raise objections where and if necessary.
The source said INEC is not constitutionally empowered to question candidates about the authenticity of their credentials or why they failed to submit some.
“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 source said.
themomentng reports that a legal counsel and ADC chieftain, Kalu Agu, had on Friday submitted a petition against Tinubu to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.
He accused President Tinubu of presenting false academic credentials to INEC as part of the constitutional requirements for the 2027 presidential election.
According to him, Tinubu allegedly failed to disclose the primary and secondary schools he attended in documents submitted to the commission.
Also, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking Tinubu’s disqualification from the 2027 presidential election over an alleged forged NYSC certificate.
Atiku personally appeared at the registry of the Federal High Court in Abuja to depose to an affidavit supporting the suit filed against Tinubu, the APC and INEC.
