In an attempt to avoid any potential controversy, presidential candidate Dan Nwanyanwu of the Zenith Labour Party speculated that President Tinubu might decide to run for office again by presenting only his school certificate to INEC. This is in reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling that Atiku Abubakar’s Chicago State University deposition could not be admitted as new evidence.
In an interview with AIT, Nwanyanwu underlined that having a diploma from an educational institution is a prerequisite for running for office. He added that if a candidate can prove to INEC that they are literate, they can still run for office even if they do not have a diploma from an educational institution.
According to him, “Well, if President Tinubu will be contesting another election, that will be a different page. It has nothing to do with this. Maybe at that time, in order to avoid controversies, I’ve had aspirants who came to me; some said they’re lawyers, some said they’re this, they answer doctors, but when I was filing their papers, they said put school certificate. I said, But you’re a lawyer. He said, Chairman, leave that one. So maybe if President Tinubu is going to run for a second term, he may elect (decide) to say, Okay, to avoid controversies, put my school certificate. Even without the school certificate, you can contest for president of Nigeria. So all you need to do is let INEC be convinced that you can read and write. I mean, what is this much ado about nothing?”
