By Abdulqadir Muhammad Alhaji
The governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in Bauchi State, Yakubu Adamu, has omitted the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) qualification he previously claimed from the academic credentials submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to documents available on INEC’s portal, Adamu now lists his First School Leaving Certificate, Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) certificate and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Management as his highest educational qualifications.
The development comes after a series of investigative reports published by WikkiTimes, which questioned the authenticity of the doctorate the candidate had publicly attributed to the International University of Bamenda (IUB) in Cameroon.
WikkiTimes reported that Cameroon’s higher education authorities do not authorize private universities, including IUB, to award doctoral degrees. The publication also cited regulatory actions against the institution and raised questions about the supervision and timeline of the thesis associated with the claimed qualification.
In subsequent reports, WikkiTimes said it contacted several foreign institutions that had reportedly been presented as IUB’s international partners. According to the publication, the institutions denied having any formal affiliation with the university. The investigation also reported that another institution listed as a partner had ceased operations, while another was described by U.S. regulators as an unaccredited institution.
The publication further reported that Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) stated that the International University of Bamenda was not among the foreign universities on its approved records and clarified that verification of foreign institutions is outside the Commission’s statutory responsibility.
Following these developments, Adamu’s latest declaration to INEC no longer includes the PhD qualification, with only his primary school certificate, SSCE and MBA listed among his academic credentials.
As of the time WikkiTimes published its report, the newspaper said efforts to obtain Adamu’s response regarding the omission of the doctorate from his INEC records were unsuccessful.
The development has generated public discussion in Bauchi State, particularly as preparations continue ahead of the forthcoming governorship election. Neither the APM candidate nor his campaign team had publicly explained the change in his academic credentials at the time of reporting.
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