The academic credentials of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), have been a subject of controversy since 2023, when he contested the presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party (LP).
Political opponents and social media critics have claimed that the university degree certificate he parades is fake.
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The assertion is anchored on the argument that Mr Obi could not have been admitted to study Philosophy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), without obtaining at least a credit in English Language and Mathematics in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examination.
Also, claims have surfaced regarding discrepancies between the name he is publicly known by and the names appearing on his UNN degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates.
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The allegation resurfaced in June and July after Abayomi Arabambi, the national vice chairman (South-West) of the Labour Party faction led by Lamidi Apapa, appeared on News Central TV and a social media television platform, where he displayed copies of Mr Obi’s degree certificate alongside other academic records and alleged that they were not genuine.
“You and I know … that you cannot study Philosophy with a pass in English Language and Mathematics. See the thing: your brother used to enter university and you can Google it whether you can study philosophy with three credits,” he said.
He referred listeners to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s website, which, he said, shows that a prospective student must have five credits including English and Mathematics to be admitted for Philosophy.
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“I studied Engineering; English and Mathematics are compulsory. That means he entered that school with three credits out of five required for studying philosophy,” Mr Arabambi said during the interview.
Checking the claims
To fact-check the claim, PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Arabambi to obtain copies of the academic credentials he referenced during the interview. He obliged and shared copies of the documents with our reporter.
The WAEC certificate referenced by the Labour Party chief shows the bearer’s name as Obi Gregory Onwubuasi.
The certificate also shows that the candidate sat the ‘Joint Examination for the School Certificate and General Certificate Examination (GCE)’ at Christ The King College, Onitsha, Anambra State in June 1978.
According to the result details on the certificate, the candidate received Grade 8, equivalent to pass, in English Language and Mathematics.
He scored Grade 7, also equivalent to a pass, in Government and Chemistry.
He scored Grade 6, equivalent to a credit, in Biology and Geography.
He scored Grade 5, equivalent to a credit, in Literature-in-English and Religious Knowledge, and
In Economics, he received Grade 3, equivalent to good.
Following this, in July, PREMIUM TIMES wrote to the UNN, invoking the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011, to confirm whether its records showed that Mr Obi was admitted to study Philosophy with the results on the school certificate.
The letter also sought to know if, with those results, Mr Obi met the minimum O’Level requirements for admission into the university’s Philosophy undergraduate programme at the time.
This newspaper also sought to know whether there were alternative admission pathways, exemptions, remedial programmes or equivalent qualifications that could have enabled a candidate to gain admission despite not having at least a credit in English Language and Mathematics.
Ultimately, the letter asked the university to confirm if Mr Obi completed his undergraduate studies and graduated, and to authenticate the degree certificate credited to him.
The WAEC certificate in question and a copy of the UNN degree certificate issued to Mr Obi were attached to the letter for ease of reference.
The findings
In the university’s reply to PREMIUM TIMES’ FOI request, the registrar’s office confirmed Mr Obi’s admission to study Philosophy and authenticated his degree certificate.
In the response dated 26 August and signed by Eseme Obiora, a senior deputy registrar, the UNN confirmed that Mr Obi was duly admitted to study Philosophy in 1980.
“Mr. Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi was duly admitted by the University Authority to study Philosophy in the Faculty of the Social Science on September 03, 1980, with registration number 80/26333 and reference number in his admission letter was JAMB/ICMS/80 and Serial No. 07928, signed by one M. Shehu for JAMB Registrar (Annexure B Letter dated 3rd September, 1980). Admission,” the letter read.
Authenticating the degree copy of certificate presented by PREMIUM TIMES as duly issued to Mr Obi upon completion of his undergraduate programme, the university wrote that “the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with Second Class Honours Lower Division dated 15th December, 1984 emanated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and was awarded to him by the University Senate with the Certificate No D000198.”
On the question of whether Mr Obi’s O’Level qualifications qualified him for admission at the time, UNN answered in the affirmative.
The university confirmed that Mr Obi met the O’Level requirements, adding that there were no alternative admission pathways, exemptions, remedial programmes or equivalent qualifications involved in his admission.
“The O’Level Certificate Mr. Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi presented fulfilled and/or met the requirement prescribed by the University Entrance Board during the time and was therefore admitted to study Philosophy.
“There were no alternative admission pathways, exemptions, remedial programmes or equivalent qualification that Mr. Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi took before he was admitted to study Philosophy by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was qualified ab initio,” it said.
The university further confirmed that Mr Obi, whose full name was given as Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi, was admitted to study Philosophy in the Faculty of Social Sciences on 3 September 1980.
Confirming that Mr Obi met the O’Level requirements for admission, the letter said the presidential candidate combined two WAEC results – the publicised one from the June 1978 examinations and the less known one from the November/December 1978.
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“Yes, Mr. Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi was admitted into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study Philosophy with his West African Examination Council (WAEC) date June 1978 Appendix C” result, the WAEC Number 04104138 and another Nov/Dec GCE 1978 result combined that qualified him to be admitted to study Philosophy.”
Verdict
The claim that Mr Obi is parading a fake university degree certificate is false.
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, which issued the certificate, has authenticated it and confirmed that Mr Obi was duly admitted to study Philosophy in 1980 and subsequently awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) in 1984.
The university also confirmed that the O’Level qualifications he presented, comprising his WAEC results from the June 1978 examinations and November/December 1978 GCE, met the admission requirements applicable at the time.
Therefore, the claim that Mr Obi’s UNN degree certificate is fake is not supported by the university’s records.
But PREMIUM TIMES has yet to ascertain the details of Mr Obi’s November/December 1978 GCE results.
The UNN registrar’s office misleadingly indicated in the letter sent to PREMIUM TIMES that copies of both results and other supporting documents were attached as annexures.
None of those documents were sent with the letter to PREMIUM TIMES as indicated. Frantic efforts to draw the attention of the Chief Registrar, Ngozi Nnebedum, and her office to the omission – urging them to resend the letter with the attached documents – have been futile.
Mrs Nnebedum and her office ignored this newspaper’s e-mails requesting the missing details. The registrar subsequently ignored PREMIUM TIMES’ repeated phone calls. When she finally answered our call on Monday, she expressed surprise that the annexures were omitted and promised to re-send them. But she neither kept the promise nor answered subsequent calls.
In the first place, it took repeated phone calls across weeks for Mrs Nnebedum to respond to the FOI request.
On Tuesday, Mr Obi welcomed public scrutiny of his academic credentials in a social media post, and urged other presidential candidates to submit themselves to such examination by interested members of the public.
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