I Laugh When I Hear People Say I Bought My Law Certificate – Amaechi

I laugh when I hear people say I bought my law certificate – Amaechi

Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said he went back to school to study Law just to fulfill his father’s wish to be a lawyer.

But the former governor of Rivers State, who hinted that he would go a step further by going to Law School to be called to bar, said he had no intention of practicing law, even as he said he had started a Masters programme in Corporate and Company Law at Kings College, London.

Speaking exclusively to Vanguard yesterday in Abuja, the frontline politician and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said contrary to claims in some quarters that he bought the Law degree certificate, he actually worked hard for it.

He said throughout the duration of the programme, he was dedicated to his studies, disclosing further that even as a minister, he was always ahead of lecturers and students in punctuality, a development he disclosed made the Baze University to present him award for deligence and punctuality.

He said going back to pursue a fresh degree in Law at the age of 57 was normal to him, saying he merely achieved what he had wanted a long time ago.

Amaechi said: ” Going back to obtain Law degree at 57 is normal. I should have graduated a long time ago. When I hear people say I bought a degree, I just laugh. I laugh because until I started campaigning for presidency, I never missed a class.

”So for three years and six months, I never missed a class. And I came before all the lecturers and I came before all the students.

“The school gave me award for being deligent and punctual. I never failed any course work. But that’s not important, what is important is that I wrote all my course work in person, so they can’t say lecturers gave me pass marks..

” In Baze University, we don’t write matriculation number or our names. They give you a barcode which you place on the answer sheet. So when the teachers mark, they mark what is called blind marking and they can’t take it home.

”They mark there in the school. If they can’t finish, they leave it there and come back the next day. When they come the next day, they continue. And as they are marking, they mark with barcode so they don’t know the name of the person or the matriculation number and I don’t think they are handwriting experts.

” Let me give you an instance. I scored 69 per cent in Jurisprudence which was a B grade. The person who taught me Jurisprudence was my supervisor in my long essay, I’m sure if he had known that it was me, he would have added me one percent to make it 70.

”The whole faculty was like “oh,no,he should have added you one percent to make it 70t.”

On his inspiration to pursue the course, Amaechi explained: “First and foremost, it was to fulfill my father’s wish that I read Law. At least, I have satisfied his wish and he would have been happy if he was alive.

“He was in love with the work of Rotimi Williams who was one of the best lawyers then and felt I should be like him.

“When I got the admission, I started asking myself how would I cope with my work. I would go to school as early as 8am and report to work by 6pm. I would work from 6pm to 11 pm and sometimes 11:30pm then I go home. I did that on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays were cabinet meetings. I worked Wednesdays and Fridays. “

Asked if he would go to Law School, he said: “Yes,I think so. I may go to Law School. I’m already doing a Masters degree in Corporate and Company Law at Kings College, London. I hope to combine it with Law School.

“I don’t intend to practice but to have the knowledge of law and the certificate It is to help me not to make some mistakes. There is no excuse in law. There are some things you can’t know except you read law “

Amaechi, who admitted refusing to fund the establishment of Law School in the state while he held sway as governor of Rivers State, faulted his successor for commiting the state’s money to the project which he described as federal government’s responsibility.

“Yes, it’s true. I asked them when they brought the proposal, I asked them, would the federal government fund it? and they said no. I’m not father Christmas. I said primary schools in Rivers State are not functioning, secondary schools are not functioning and I would go and build a law school for government as big as the federal government?

”I told them that I have a land and here’s the land and they said no. So,I don’t know why that is an achievement for a man whose primary and secondary schools are not functioning and teachers are not paid.

” By the time I did audit of education in Rivers State, we trained 90,000 teachers and I employed 13,200. So that money that he used in building law school would have been used to employ more teachers.

”So that money that you are investing in a big federal government’s project you should have used it to employ more teachers, build more schools and create more jobs for our people. Rivers State has the highest number of unemployment,” he added.