Peter Obi warns against accepting unverified credentials in leadership

Presidential candidate Peter Obi has strongly criticized the practice of accepting unverified academic credentials for leadership roles in Nigeria. He issued a statement Tuesday, titled “By making excuses for unverified certificates, we are planting poison in the soul of our society,” warning that such tolerance erodes societal standards and accountability.

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A nation that tolerates unverified academic credentials at any level of leadership, regardless of who is involved, risks destroying the very standards upon which a society is built.

Obi emphasized that the issue transcends individual cases and concerns the fundamental values passed to future generations. He argued that excusing blurred, missing, or questionable credentials based on political support sets a dangerous precedent. "The process through which people attain positions of responsibility matters greatly. How we get into leadership is as important as what we do with leadership," he stated.

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The issue is not about an individual. It is about standards, accountability, and the values we choose to pass on to the next generation.

The former Anambra State governor cautioned that normalizing the abandonment of credential verification could lead to a future where professionals lack genuine qualifications. "If we normalize the abandonment of basic verification today, tomorrow we may have professors who never attended a university, doctors who never studied medicine, and judges who never studied law," he warned. He asserted that Nigeria must avoid this dangerous path and refrain from sacrificing its future for short-term political gains.

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We cannot continue to excuse blurred, missing, questionable, or unverified credentials simply because they belong to someone we support.

Obi called for the establishment of a society where truth is not partisan, standards are non-negotiable, and accountability is universal. "History will judge us not only by those we defended, but by the principles we were willing to defend. We must choose truth over convenience, standards over sentiments, and the future over political expediency," he concluded. His remarks follow the release of candidate credentials for the 2027 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

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The process through which people attain positions of responsibility matters greatly. How we get into leadership is as important as what we do with leadership.