How Not To Present Curriculum Vitae For Election Or Appointment Into Public Office

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By Prof Obiaraeri, N.O.

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA: A “public office” is a public trust and the occupant is a public officer. Public offices are created for the benefit of the public. They are not created or granted for the benefit of the incumbent, who has no contractual, vested or property right in the office. The ingredients of a “public office” were made abundantly clear by the Supreme Court per Aniogolu JSC (as he then was) in the case of APAMPA v STATE (1982) LPELR-523(SC) (Pp. 11 paras. E), to the effect that “To make the office a public office, the pay must come out of national and not out of local funds, and the office must be public in the strict sense of that term. It is not enough that the due discharge of the duties of the office should be for the public benefit in a secondary and remote sense.”

This exposition is designed to enlighten on the irreducible minimum contents of a curriculum vitae or resume for public office seekers and public office holders in Nigeria with a view to putting an end to false, fraudulent and rogue claims. The national Constitution, being the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, prescribes both the qualifying (eligibility) and disqualifying (ineligibility) conditions for holding certain high public offices whether by election or appointment. A public office seeker or public office holder must satisfy both the qualifying conditions and must not be caught in the web of the disqualifying conditions set out under the national Constitution.

Out of abundant caution, these prime elective public offices expressly identified in the Constitution are President, Vice-President, Governor, Deputy Governor, Senate, Member of House of Representatives, Member of House of Assembly of a State, Chairman of a Local Government, Vice-chairman of a Local Government and Councilor.

In all these elective prime offices, the national Constitution pegs different minimum ages among other eligibility criteria but erects a common minimum academic qualification for these offices. Put differently, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides sundry qualification or eligibility and disqualification or ineligibility criteria for holding elective offices at both the Federal or State levels of Government and into both the legislative and executive arms of government. Generally, the eligibility criteria cover Nigerian citizenship, age (which vary according to different offices of President/Vice- President fixed at 30 years; Senate fixed at 30 years; House of Representatives fixed at 25 years; Governor/Deputy Governor fixed at 30 years; State House of Assembly fixed at 25 years), membership of and sponsorship by a political party and requisite academic qualification. The general ineligibility criteria for any public office seeker in Nigeria are also clearly stated in the Constitution. The common ineligibility grounds are that no person shall be qualified for election into any public office if:
(a) subject to the provisions of section 28 of this Constitution, he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a country other than Nigeria or, except in such cases as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, has made a declaration of allegiance to such a country;
(b) under any law in force in any part of Nigeria, he is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind;
(c) he is under a sentence of death imposed on him by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for an offence involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever name called) or any other offence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court;
(d) within a period of less than 10 years before the date of an election to a legislative house, he has been convicted and sentenced for an offence involving dishonesty or he has been found guilty of a contravention of the Code of Conduct;
(e) he is an undischarged bankrupt, having been adjudged or otherwise declared bankrupt under any law in force in any part of Nigeria;
(f) he is a person employed in the public service of the Federation or of any State and has not resigned, withdrawn or retired from such employment 30 days before the date of election;
(g) he is a member of a secret society;
(h) he has been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by Judicial Commission of Inquiry or an Administrative Panel of Inquiry or a Tribunal set up under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act, a Tribunals of Inquiry Law or any other law by the Federal or State Government which indictment has been accepted by the Federal or State Governments respectively; or.
(i) he has presented a forged certificate to the Independence National Electoral Commission.
It is also the common constitutional provision that where in respect of any person who has been- (a) adjudged to be a lunatic; (b) declared to be of unsound mind; (c) sentenced to death or imprisonment; or (d) adjudged or declared bankrupt, any appeal against the decision is pending in any court of law in accordance with any law in force in Nigeria, the above provisions shall not apply during a period beginning from the date when such appeal is lodged and ending on the date when the appeal is finally determined or, as the case may be, the appeal lapses or is abandoned, whichever is earlier. An “appeal” includes any application for an injunction or an order certiorari, mandamus, prohibition or habeas corpus, or any appeal from any such application.

With respect to academic qualification, an elected public officer in Nigeria is required to be educated up to school certificate level or its equivalent. Although this may appear an anti-intellectual provision, yet it is safe to surmise that under the national Constitution requires that a President of Nigeria, which is the highest elected office in the land should be educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent. The omnibus phrase “School Certificate level or its equivalent” is further interpreted in an expansive and generous manner under section 318(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to mean the following: (a) a Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or
(b) education up to Secondary School Certificate level; or
(c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent and –
(i) service in the public or private sector in the Federation in any capacity acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for a minimum of ten years, and
(ii) attendance at courses and training in such institutions as may be acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for periods totaling up to a minimum of one year, and
(iii) the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and
(d) any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

What these constitutionally sanctioned qualifying and disqualifying conditions mean are that in perusing the resume or curriculum vitae [popularly called “CV”] of a public office seeker or public office holder, the irreducible minimum constitutional qualifications are expected to be seen properly and clearly documented. By seeking to hold or by holding public office the affected person has directly and constructively become public property liable to public scrutiny. Hence, the person seeking or occupant of public office whether by election or appointment is inexorably bound to make open his or her verifiable personal data which must contain his date of birth, place of birth, nationality, academic, professional and other claims. Rogue documentations or false claims are not allowed.

The relevant CV must contain verifiable claims with respect to date and place of birth. These will help to show that the applicant or occupant is not underage or does not have duplicitous ages and that he or she is a Nigerian citizen. For instance, under the Constitution, the President and Vice-President shall not be non-Nigerians. They must be citizens of Nigeria by birth.
Furthermore, all earned academic certificates/credentials with institutions attended and allied bodies must be fully disclosed. These be should accompanied with dates of entry and graduation for completeness of information and possible public scrutiny. The national Constitution and Electoral Act, 2022 contemplate verifiable claims. Needless to overemphasize that Nigerians should be saved the agony of shenanigans that adorn rogue claims by public office seekers and holders about their ages, dates of birth, citizenship and academic qualifications. The constitutional requirements in this regard are so cheap that public office holders and public office seekers can avoid making rogue and unverifiable claims as seem presently to be the norm than exception. Such lousy claims like “he went to school when others went to school and or he passed out from school when others passed out” are only comical and do not satisfy the requirements of public scrutiny.

Such claims like “He went to Lagos like others, from there he travelled overseas like others and came back with chains of Degrees and Certificates” are spurious and mere hogwash.

Assertions, written or oral, like “He is a graduate [no details of what and where and when] but decided to contest election with his First School Leaving Certificate or WASC because he is a humble man who does not want to brag about things of the world” are empty and unsatisfactory. How can anyone be a graduate without a verifiable institution of higher learning; without year of entry and graduation; without schoolmates or classmates and lecturers? Even online courses have accredited or affiliated institutions, year of entry and year of graduation, course mates and lecturers. It is a very troubling development that the small issues of date of birth, academic qualifications, compulsory participation in the National Youth Service Corp scheme for those who graduated below thirty years of age form the greater part of grounds of petitions for adjudication in the various Election Petition Tribunals across the country. It can only be suggested that the Courts should go hard on those who seek to hold or hold public office with fake or fraudulent (“akuruaku”, “oluwole”, adigoroja) claims contrary to the constitutional stipulations. As stated by the Supreme Court per Okoro, JSC, in the case of LADO v MASARI & ORS (2019) LPELR-55596(SC) (Pp. 19-20 paras. D), the national Constitution is very liberal indeed n issue of educational qualification to be President and even Governor.

This very low academic qualification for eligibility to contest or hold public offices in Nigeria cannot go without a hard knock. It does not reflect the present realities in this day and age of intellectual rigour including artificial intelligence. A country that requires possession of a First Degree awarded from a University or a Higher National Diploma awarded in a Polytechnic before a citizen is employed on the lowest cadre of senior civil service or before enlistment as a Lieutenant in the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force) or equivalent rank in the Police, State Security Service, Immigration, Customs, National Security and Civil Defence Corps cannot require that the President of the country, who is the Chief Executive of the nation and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, or the Governor of a State or Senator or Member of the House of Representatives or House of Assembly of a State be educated only up to at least school certificate or its equivalent. This leaves a big disconnect in the leadership recruitment process.

Until that very laughable constitutional requirement pegging academic qualification to education up to school certificate or its equivalent is amended and increased to possession of verifiable University Degree or Higher National Diploma, public office seekers and public office holders are enjoined to keep it simple and real.

There is no need to fake it.

A new normal is possible!