Must Read: Shocking List Of 5 Nigerian Politicians Who Have Been Accused of Certificate Forgery

Kemi Adeosun

The Minister for Finance, Kemi Adeosun’s NYSC certificate scandal generated a lot of controversies in the media. In a country where a young graduate can barely get a well-paying job or further his education without an NYSC discharge or exemption certificate, it was seen as gravely unfair for someone to hold such an office with a forged certificate. Adeosun claimed she applied for an exemption and was issued an exemption certificate and NYSC attested to the fact that she did apply for an exemption but said nothing as to whether it was granted or not. Following the uproar caused by this controversy and several Nigerians calling for an investigation, Adeosun officially resigned as the Minister for Finance on 14th September 2018.

Dino Melaye

Melaye, Nigerian Senator, representing Kogi West Senatorial District is well known for either creating or being involved in major political controversies. He was involved in various certificates scandals in 2017 including his claim to have obtained an unverified Bachelor of Science degree in Geography from Ahmadu Bello University and a degree from the Boston-based Ivy League Harvard University in the United States. He, however, debunked the claims and said not only did he graduate legitimately from ABU Zaria, but also, he has successfully earned seven degrees from various other institutions around the world, among them are Harvard’s University, Kennedy School for Educational Leadership and London School of Economics and Political Science; a claim that was since refuted by both institutions, with Harvard claiming Melaye only presented himself for a week-long professional development course in late 2016 while LSE claimed there’s no evidence on its database that Melaye ever Obtained any degree there. Melaye was eventually cleared by the Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Ibrahim Garba who appeared before the Senate Committee to confirm that Senator Dino Melaye graduated from the school, although under a different name.

Bola Tinubu

In 1999, a petition was written against Tinubu that he did not attend Chicago State University as indicated in his INEC form when he contested the Lagos State governorship poll and that he also lied in the affidavit he attached to the INEC form, in which he declared that he lost his university degree certificate while he was in exile between 1994 and 1998. It was also alleged that Tinubu’s claim of attending Government College, Ibadan, was false, that he was born in 1952 as against 1954 in his documents and did not participate in the compulsory one-year NYSC scheme. Responding to the allegations, Tinubu was forced to present the original copy of his certificate and dismissed the allegations as “baseless, wicked and unfortunate.”

Ayodele Fayose

Ex-Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose also had his own fair share of certificate scandals owing to the 2013 certificate scandal that he was involved in while contesting as the governor of Ekiti State. Fayose had claimed that he attended The Polytechnic, Ibadan and bagged a Higher National Diploma certificate but the institution issued a disclaimer that he was never a student of the polytechnic and that the certificate he claimed to be his actually belonged to a different person. A lot of people asked for his prosecution after this reveal. However, the state polytechnic retracted their words, admitting that Fayose was indeed a graduate of the school and he eventually won the election in October 2014.

Muhammadu Buhari

During his campaign for president in 2015, Buhari was involved in a  no-certificate scandal that almost disqualified him from running for president. The allegation was denied and his campaign coordinators provided evidence that not only was he qualified to run, he had a far higher academic qualification than is required by the constitution. However, Nigerians were still in doubt as to how true his “overqualification” was as he hired 13 Senior Advocates of Nigeria to defend him in a case brought to compel him to provide certificate or proof that he has one, where he could have just provided them on request. After Buhari won the elections, the case was swept under the rug.

 

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