Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, has advised opposition parties to shift attention from President Bola Tinubu’s academic qualifications and concentrate on his administration’s performance as political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections intensify.
Ndume, an All Progressives Congress chieftain representing Borno South in the Senate, made the call in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday.
He described the renewed debate over Tinubu’s educational credentials as a distraction, urging opposition presidential candidates to present Nigerians with clear alternatives rather than making the President’s certificates a central campaign issue.
“The narrative around his certificate is distracting. What opposition presidential candidates should be doing is to tell Nigerians what they have to offer. What are their alternative economic policies? What can they do better than President Tinubu?
“They should interrogate his economic policies and how his government has handled insecurity. The President has been in office for over three years now. So why should his certificates be the main talking point?” Ndume said in a Vanguard report.
The senator’s comments came amid renewed scrutiny of Tinubu’s academic records after checks showed that the sections for primary and secondary school education were left blank in the EC9 form submitted by the President.
Tinubu, however, listed a B.Sc in Business Administration from Chicago State University, which he obtained in 1979, alongside his degree certificate and NYSC discharge certificate.
Addressing the constitutional requirement for presidential candidates, Ndume argued that Tinubu had satisfied the minimum educational qualification prescribed by law.
Quoting Section 131(d) of the 1999 Constitution, he said, “The Constitution only sets a minimum educational qualification. It does not say it must be a secondary school certificate.”
The constitutional provision states that a presidential candidate must be “educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”
Ndume further argued that questions surrounding Tinubu’s qualification had already been resolved by the courts following the 2023 presidential election.
With the 2027 elections drawing closer, the former Senate Leader called on opposition parties to focus their campaigns on policies, governance and alternative solutions to the country’s challenges.
“As we move deeper into campaigns, the opposition should elevate the discourse beyond pettiness,” he said.
Ndume added, “As Eleanor Roosevelt once put it, great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”