Confirmation of Umo Eno’s certificates by WAEC: The hypothesis of the opposition

By Emmanuel Ndon

Last week, following the release of confirmation of Pastor Umo Eno’s results by West African Examinations Council ( WAEC) , spin doctors again switched on their power buttons, went to town and occupied the media space , alleging discrepancies in the results.

Two striking arguments can be deduced from the matter. The first is that WAEC has confirmed Umo Eno’s results as authentic and conveyed same in writing to the Attorney General of Akwa Ibom State. The second argument is the substance of the case in court which has to do with alleged forgery.

The discrepancies alleged to be observed involve the name of the candidate, number of subjects and the centre of examination in 1981 and 1983 respectively.

There is also the entry for “Bible Knowledge” as opposed to ” Christian Religious Knowledge” in the confirmation of results.

While I do not hold brief here for anyone, the truth is that the alleged discrepancies were not made by Umo Eno. However, errors do occur in WAEC results and if several candidates were to share their experiences, anyone who has no idea would understand this.

An instance to be highlighted here happened some years back where a certain female candidate’s middle name is Samuel but when the result came out, her certificate bore “Daniel” as her middle name. Efforts by the candidate through several correspondences to effect the corrections have not yielded any result till date.

I do not in any way imply that this is the case with the matter in question, I do not mean that distortions will (always) occur. I simply mean it can occur.

However, for whatever discrepancy that has been observed, the matter is before the court, and the court reserves the right to invite WAEC for clarification . So, the fuss and media trial by the opposition elements are misplaced

On the second aspect, the issue of forgery is ruled out. First, because the issuing authority has claimed responsibility for the results in question. Also, the results do not necessarily attract any fraudulent benefits to the defendant – Pastor Umo Eno

As could be seen, what would have made him liable is if he did not sit for the examinations but awarded himself grades and certificates. But here, as confirmed by WAEC, he actually sat for the examination not once but on two different occasions. The fact is that anybody that writes an examination is bound to get his /her result.

I would like to conclude this piece by drawing everyone’s attention to the fact that the provisions of Nigerian constitution as it currently stands, does not permit anyone seeking the office of the governor to forge a certificate.

All that is required is to display such capabilities as sound reasoning and ability to communicate in English language to the satisfaction of the electoral body. And it is evident and clear that Pastor Umo Eno fulfils these conditions satisfactorily.

For the avoidance of doubt, I’d like to state the minimum educational requirements to contest for the governorship of a state in Nigeria as outlined by the 1999 Constitution (as amended)

“A person shall be qualified for the election to the office of the president/governor if… he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent” (Section 131).

The frustrations of the opposition is understandable. They never really expected to be stunned by the revelation of the authenticity of Umo Eno’s results by the issuing authority. They just have to accept their fate and abide by the truth.