Is Peter Obi's university degree fake? Here’s what we found out

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has faced questions about his academic credentials since 2023. This was when he ran for president under the Labour Party (LP).

His political rivals and critics on social media say the university degree certificate he shows is not real.

They argue that Mr Obi could not have been accepted to study Philosophy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) without at least a credit in English Language and Mathematics from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

Claims have also come up about differences between the name he uses and the names on his UNN degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates.

The accusation gained traction again in June and July when Abayomi Arabambi, who is the national vice chairman (South-West) of a Labour Party faction led by Lamidi Apapa, appeared on News Central TV and a social media television platform. During his appearance, he showed copies of Mr Obi’s degree certificate and other academic records, claiming they were not authentic.

“You and I know … that you cannot study Philosophy with a pass in English Language and Mathematics. See the thing: your brother used to enter university and you can Google it whether you can study philosophy with three credits,” he said.

He told listeners to check the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s website. He said it states that a student must have five credits, including English and Mathematics, to study Philosophy.

“I studied Engineering; English and Mathematics are compulsory. That means he entered that school with three credits out of five required for studying philosophy,” Mr Arabambi said.

Investigating the Claims

To check these claims, PREMIUM TIMES reached out to Mr Arabambi for the academic documents he mentioned. He shared copies of the documents with our reporter.

The WAEC certificate he provided shows the name Obi Gregory Onwubuasi.

The certificate states that the candidate took the ‘Joint Examination for the School Certificate and General Certificate Examination (GCE)’ at Christ The King College, Onitsha, Anambra State in June 1978.

According to the certificate details, the candidate got Grade 8, a pass, in English Language and Mathematics.

He scored Grade 7, also a pass, in Government and Chemistry.

He received Grade 6, a credit, in Biology and Geography.

He got Grade 5, a credit, in Literature-in-English and Religious Knowledge.

In Economics, he got Grade 3, considered good.

After this, in July, PREMIUM TIMES wrote to the UNN, using the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011. We wanted to confirm if Mr Obi was admitted to study Philosophy with those results.

We also asked if Mr Obi met the O’Level requirements for admission to the university's Philosophy program at that time. We wanted to know if there were other ways he could have been admitted without having at least a credit in English Language and Mathematics.

Lastly, we asked the university to confirm if Mr Obi completed his studies and graduated and to verify the degree certificate attributed to him.

We attached the WAEC certificate and a copy of Mr Obi's UNN degree certificate to the letter for reference.

The Response

In response to PREMIUM TIMES’ FOI request, the registrar’s office confirmed Mr Obi’s admission to study Philosophy and verified his degree certificate.

In a letter dated 26 August and signed by Eseme Obiora, a senior deputy registrar, UNN confirmed that Mr Obi was admitted to study Philosophy in 1980.

“Mr. Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi was duly admitted by the University Authority to study Philosophy in the Faculty of the Social Science on September 03, 1980, with registration number 80/26333 and reference number in his admission letter was JAMB/ICMS/80 and Serial No. 07928, signed by one M. Shehu for JAMB Registrar (Annexure B Letter dated 3rd September, 1980). Admission,” the letter said.

The university confirmed that the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with Second Class Honours Lower Division dated 15th December, 1984 was awarded to him.

The university also confirmed that Mr Obi's O’Level qualifications met the admission requirements at that time.

UNN said there were no alternative admission pathways, exemptions, or remedial programs involved in his admission.

“The O’Level Certificate Mr. Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi presented fulfilled and/or met the requirement prescribed by the University Entrance Board during the time and was therefore admitted to study Philosophy.

“There were no alternative admission pathways, exemptions, remedial programmes or equivalent qualification that Mr. Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi took before he was admitted to study Philosophy by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was qualified ab initio,” it said.

The university confirmed that Mr Obi, whose full name is Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi, was admitted to study Philosophy in the Faculty of Social Sciences on 3 September 1980.

They added that he met the O’Level requirements for admission, using two WAEC results, the one from June 1978 and another from November/December 1978.

Conclusion

The claim that Mr Obi is showing a fake university degree certificate is not true.

The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, which issued the certificate, has confirmed it and said Mr Obi was properly admitted to study Philosophy in 1980. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) in 1984.

The university also confirmed that his O’Level qualifications from the June 1978 and November/December 1978 GCE met the admission requirements at that time.

So, the claim that Mr Obi’s UNN degree certificate is fake does not hold up against the university’s records.

But PREMIUM TIMES is still trying to get details of Mr Obi’s November/December 1978 GCE results.

The UNN registrar’s office mistakenly indicated in the letter to PREMIUM TIMES that copies of both results and other documents were attached.

But none of those documents were included in the letter. Efforts to reach the Chief Registrar, Ngozi Nnebedum, about this issue have not worked. She ignored our emails asking for the missing details. When she finally answered our call, she seemed surprised that the documents were not included and promised to send them. But she did not keep that promise.

A lot of phone calls were made over weeks before Mrs Nnebedum responded to the FOI request.

On Tuesday, Mr Obi welcomed public scrutiny of his academic credentials in a social media post and urged other presidential candidates to submit to such examination by interested members of the public.