‘I made second best WASSCE result in 1976,’ Okowa reacts to certificate saga

Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Delta State, refuted allegations that he lacked a West African School Certificate (WASC) document on Tuesday.

The governor said he attended Edo College in Benin City and received his degree in 1976 in a press conference after touring ongoing developments at the Delta State University of Science and Technology in Ozoro, Isoko North Local Government Area of the state.

In recent weeks, debate in the public sphere has centred on the issue of several candidates running for president in 2023 having questionable academic credentials.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), alleged in the paperwork he sent in to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that military operatives had stolen his secondary school diploma in the 1990s.

Additionally, the governor of Delta notified INEC last week that his secondary school diploma was missing.

Okowa noted that he achieved the second-best outcome in Nigeria at the time at the conference on Tuesday.

He said the issue around the certificate was deliberately wrong perception and unnecessary politics.

He stressed that virtually all universities in the country offered him admission based on his outstanding performance in WASC and Higher School Certificate (HSC) Examination.

The governor said: “On the issue of my certificate, I think it is a misconception. People try to play politics with everything.

“Yes, I lost my WAEC certificate, but I have the print out from Edo College, Benin City, which clearly stated that I have distinction in all subjects.

“The Higher School Certificate was attached and it has been acknowledged by Edo College and the school put it out there that I made an ‘A’ `B’ `B’.

“I do not pride myself but it was very difficult to make such grade in higher school at that time.

“My high school result was the second best nationally in 1976, when I finished. So, many universities admitted me through Telegram as at that time, and I had to start making choices of which to accept.

“Of course, it’s very clear that I finished medical school at the University of Ibadan. I was 21 years and some months; I was less than 22 years of age.”