Peter Obi speaks out on the dangers of unverified credentials in leadership

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, has spoken against accepting unverified academic credentials in leadership. He warned that this practice could weaken standards and accountability in our society.

Obi made his comments on Tuesday in a statement called “By making excuses for unverified certificates, we are planting poison in the soul of our society.” He explained that academic credentials should not be seen as a matter of political loyalty. Instead, they should be viewed as a question of standards and accountability.

“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,” he stated.

He continued, “The issue is not about an individual. It is about standards, accountability, and the values we choose to pass on to the next generation.” Obi emphasised that we cannot keep justifying blurred, missing, questionable, or unverified credentials just because they belong to someone we support.

He said, “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.”

Obi warned that if we accept the abandonment of credential verification, it could lead to serious problems in the future. “If we normalise 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 cautioned.

“That is the dangerous precedent we must never allow. Nigeria cannot sacrifice its future on the altar of today’s transactional politics,” he added.

The former governor of Anambra State insisted that Nigeria must create a society where standards and accountability apply to everyone equally.

“We must build a society where truth is not partisan, standards are not negotiable, and accountability applies equally to everyone,” he said.

Obi concluded, “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.”

His statement came after the Independent National Electoral Commission released the names and credentials of presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the 2027 election.