FACT CHECK: Did Ebonyi Governor Nwifuru write SSCE as a member of the House of Representatives as viral post claims?

ClaimingThe Governor of Ebonyi State, His Excellency Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru sat for the Senior School Certificate Examination as a member of the House of Representatives in 2011.

The indictment: Misleading.

Full Text:

A viral ‘biography’ of Ebonyi state governor Francis Nwifuru claims that the former senator and incumbent governor wrote his SSCE during his tenure as a senator in the state House of Representatives.

Claims about the governor have gone viral on social media platforms and blog sites with photos allegedly showing him with his wife and son.

Verification:

Nwifuru represented Izzi West constituency in the Ebonyi State legislature between 2011 and 2023. The All Progressives Congress candidate was declared the winner of the state’s 2023 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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According to his profile on the state government website, Nwifuru came from humble beginnings; he “did a menial job considered beyond his years, ‘masonry’. He worked in the rain and hot sun all day, mixing concrete – water, sand and cement.”

Records show that despite struggling in life in his early years, Nwifuru completed his primary and secondary education from Offerekpe Agbaja Community Primary School and Nwofe Agbaja Community Secondary School between 1991 and 2004.

His profile on the state government website shows that Nwifuru furthered his education at the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, studying Building Technology and Carpentry and later obtained a second degree in Law from the same university. It added that he obtained a Masters Degree in Procurement, Logistics and Supply Chain Management from the prestigious University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom in June 2021.

However, findings show that INEC, in its final list of candidates for the 2023 state elections, only listed the educational qualifications of the state governor as “primary school certificate, senior secondary school certificate and B.Sc (Bachelor of Science)”.

While Ripples Nigeria cannot necessarily authenticate the credentials of state governors, it is worth noting that Section 1 part C of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that only Nigerian citizens who are 35 years of age and have attained at least a secondary school level education or its equivalent shall be eligible for election to the House of Representatives.

Thus, constitutionally, Nwifuru cannot contest the election or be elected to the state House of Representatives without sitting for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), which is an internal examination conducted for candidates in their final year of Senior High School.

Conclusion:

The claim that the current Ebonyi state governor and former lawmaker wrote the SSCE during his tenure in the state House of Representatives is misleading.

By: Quadri Yahya

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