ABUJA — Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to publish the academic certificates and credentials submitted by all candidates seeking elective offices in 2027. Vanguard reported the demand on Tuesday, noting that Obi framed the call as a transparency measure that would strengthen public confidence in the electoral process.
Obi said Nigerian voters have a right to independently verify that the individuals seeking to govern them meet the constitutional eligibility requirements, including the secondary school certificate or its equivalent that the constitution mandates for presidential candidates. He said INEC should make all submitted credentials publicly accessible rather than holding them only in administrative files.
The demand carries pointed political subtext, given that questions about academic credentials have featured in Nigerian electoral controversies in past election cycles. Obi did not name any specific candidate in his call but said transparency should apply uniformly to all contestants across all parties and offices.
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INEC’s Likely Response
INEC has not yet issued a formal response to Obi’s demand. The commission has previously taken the position that candidate credential verification is an internal administrative function. However, the Freedom of Information Act and increasing public appetite for electoral transparency create a legal and political environment in which resisting publication could attract significant criticism.
Civil society election monitoring groups welcomed Obi’s call, saying it aligns with broader demands for pre-election transparency that they have been advocating for years. The Transition Monitoring Group said publishing candidate credentials would reduce the space for post-election challenges based on eligibility disputes.
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The Broader Transparency Agenda
The credential publication demand is part of Obi’s wider effort to use the pre-election period to advance governance reform arguments, positioning himself as the candidate focused on systems and accountability rather than political dealmaking. His team said further transparency demands targeting campaign finance and asset declarations are being planned as part of the same public interest campaign.
