By Taofeeq Imam
When Umar Muhammad Sheriffdeen stepped foot in the Seat of Caliphate in 2017, the thought of shattering the record—graduating with first class honor from the Political Science Department of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto —had always been in his mind.
Though Sheriffdeen had heard enough that first class is desirable but not relatively achievable, the native of Auchi local government area of Edo State had hoped to rewrite this side of the department’s history.
But little did he know that it’s only five points that would prevent him from hitting the ground of becoming the first ever student to bag first class honor in the history of the Political Science Department which has been standing since 1977—about 46-year old now. How did it happen?
It all started when General Studies(GST)—the courses many students consider as bonus—injected a headache to his grades, consequently pegging his cumulative grade point average (CGPA) at 4.23 in 100-level.
Determined not to throw in the towel, Sheriffdeen, in his second year, pushed harder and garnered a CPGA of 4.34. And in the 300-level, he hit 4.44 and eventually ended up with 4.45 CPGA.
“Auspiciously, I’ll have loved to graduate with first class which is very much possible because my performance has always reflected that which most people always thought I’m a first class student,” Sheriffdeen said.
“Thankfully, My performance has actually shown the quality that I possessed. I’ve always tried my best. It just happened that I graduated with 4.45.”
I Never Had Carryover But I Witnessed ‘F’ in my Results
From witnessing an F grade instead of an A, the journey was not a bed of roses for Mohammed Sheriffdeen.
In 2017, Sheriffdeen confidently sat for GST 102(Nigeria’s people and culture) continuous assessment. But what eventually ensued after the results were released yawned him.
“When the results were pasted,I realized that my name and scores were missing.”
“Later, I lodged a complaint to the GST management and I found my script where I scored 34/40 in the test.”
That was not all. In his department, Pol3309—Islamic Political Thought—which Sheriffdeen wrote with joy of scoring an A, gave him the one his greatest dismay in Danfodiyo varsity.
He saw an F. But after several complaints and struggle at the examination office, the grade F was changed to an A.
Meanwhile, Sheriffdeen said he had never engaged in a serious relationship—popularly known as Morocco —while on campus.
Sherifdeen’s academic journey was slightly a free love affair.
“Juggling a serious relationship with academics sounds too stressful and I had to deal with both at a time. I had to choose academics over relationships.”