The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why President Bola Tinubu’s primary and secondary school certificates were not included among the credentials published for presidential candidates ahead of the 2027 general election.

A senior INEC official, who spoke anonymously to Sunday PUNCH, said the commission only published documents submitted by the candidates and had no authority to question or alter the credentials presented to it.

"We only published what was submitted to the commission. We don’t have any authority to question those ones. I mean, our own is just to publish so that anybody who has an objection can raise issues with what we’ve published,” the official said.

The clarification followed reactions after INEC published the credentials of presidential candidates, with Tinubu’s primary and secondary school certificates absent from the documents released to the public.

The official explained that the publication was also designed to give members of the public an opportunity to scrutinise the documents and raise objections where necessary.

Meanwhile, a legal counsel and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kalu Agu, reportedly submitted a petition against Tinubu to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday.

Agu alleged that Tinubu submitted false academic credentials to INEC and failed to disclose the primary and secondary schools he attended as part of the requirements for the 2027 presidential election.

A video shared on X by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s media aide, Paul Ibe, purportedly showed Agu submitting the petition.

Agu called on the European Union to intervene over what he described as an alleged subversion of Nigeria’s constitutional order.

The allegations have not been established by a court.