The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Buhari’s certificate saga

  • Buhari’s certificate saga: Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous

    I am amused and profoundly worried by the orchestrated campaign on President Buhari’s certificate and whether or not he’s qualified to re-contest for the nation’s highest office.

    How can any sane person insist that someone who rose to the pinnacle of his career in the army as a full general is not educationally qualified to seek the nation’s presidency? What do the constitution and the electoral law stipulate as the minimum educational qualification required for anyone seeking to contest for the office of President? I believe it is to be educated up to school certificate level or its equivalent and that, I insist, Buhari has. Otherwise, the white colonialists who recruited him into the army would not have engaged him in the first place.

    In the second place, are morons sent abroad to study in military institutions abroad along with their peers from other parts of the globe? I do not think so.

    If people who are scared stiff of facing Buhari at the presidential election next year are now trying to use this certificate thing to get him out of the way just to brighten their own chances of having no formidable opponent to face, do they realise the damage they are wreaking on our country’s standard by implying that a stark illiterate is running their affairs? What manner of politics is this?

    Putting off Buhari’s candle certainly cannot make theirs burn brighter. But the import of their cheap and unsustainable campaign is what should worry every thinking citizen in the country. ‘If I won’t get it, let’s throw it to the dogs’ is an attitude and attribute of desperadoes and they don’t go much ahead in their at-all-cost-it-must-be-me approach to life. Their ilk often end up in frustration.

     

    Brutal end for a beautiful soul

    It is unbelievable that a jolly good fellow like Ope Bademosi, a high chief in his Ondo kingdom and a sociable sportsman, could have his life cut short by a sadist of a cook in this gruesome manner.

    Ope hired a cook a few days back to satisfy his culinary pleasures only to end his glorious life by the same young man he hired to help him maintain a healthy lifestyle in the choice of his foods.

    Sad and pitiable. While consoling his wide array of friends and family, this incident should serve as a salutary lesson for those who are too trusting with strangers in their lives, some of who take unbridled liberties of their access to hardworking and successful men and women in our society to wreck families and toy with the lives of brilliant minds.

    Here’s hoping the police will be lucky to help us fish out this fiend and offer him as meat for vultures, as a deterrent to others of same sadistic minds. Good night, boisterous Ope Bademosi, our jolly friend!

  • PDP accuses Buhari of perjury over certificate

    PDP accuses Buhari of perjury over certificate

    The presidential campaign organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, of perjury.

    Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the Director of Media and Publicity of the organisation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, urged Buhari to withdraw from the contest and to apologise to Nigerians.

    Fani-Kayode was reacting to claims by the Nigerian Army that although Buhari obtained the West African School Certificate in 1961, copies of his certificate could not be found in Army records.

    Consequently, Buhari had said he would contact authorities of the Government College, Katsina, to furnish him with copies of the certificate.

    But the PDP insisted that the APC flag bearer had committed a “grave criminal offence” under the law and constitution.

    The statement said: “Information reaching us now has shown that the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed today in Kano at a press conference that the affidavit he swore to in which he claimed that his credentials were in the custody of the military was not true after all.

    “The implication of the action of this so-called “Mr. Clean” is nothing but perjury and we all know that this is a grave criminal offence under our laws and constitution.
    “We urge Buhari and his party to do the right thing and tender an unreserved apology to the Nigerian people, throw in the towel and report to the nearest police station for interrogation and prosecution.

    “Anything less than that would be an insult to the collective intelligence and integrity of the Nigerian people. We also urge the Nigerian Armed Forces to consider the possibility of stripping him of his rank and privileges given the fact that he was never qualified to join the Nigerian army as a commissioned officer in the first place because he never had the prerequisite qualifications which was a school certificate.

    “Given this, at best Buhari should never have been anything more than a non-commissioned officer.”

    The President’s campaign organisation also blamed Buhari and APC supporters for the reported attack by suspected thugs on the convoy of President Goodluck Jonathan during the President’s campaign rally in Katsina on Tuesday.

    “We consider that action despicable, barbaric, shameful and highly reprehensible. It shows very clearly the violent nature, disposition and character of those individuals that were involved and the presidential candidate that they support.

    “The Katsina show of shame was the first case of violence unleashed on our candidate by supporters of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, after the signing of the historic Abuja Accord by the presidential candidates of all the parties participating in the election. The purpose of that Accord was to discourage violence before, during and after the election.

    “The laudable intention of the Accord has now been irresponsibly violated by a group of miscreants and vandals whose leader has proved to be wholly incapable of keeping them in check and restraining them from indulging in violence. It is worrisome that this kind of violent reaction would manifest when the election has not held and their candidate has not yet lost.

    “We are taking this opportunity to serve notice today that by the grace of God and the support of the well-meaning Nigerian electorate, Gen. Buhari will suffer a crushing defeat in the hands of our candidate, President Jonathan, at the polls.”

     

  • Controversy on my certificate, a PDP mischief – Buhari

    Controversy on my certificate, a PDP mischief – Buhari

    The presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammad Buhari, Wednesday in Kano made clarifications on his West Africa School Certificate, describing the controversy generated by the matter as sheer mischief orchestrated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Buhari, who spoke to reporters at Kano State Government House, explained that he initially presumed that the certificate was with the Nigeria Army, until the military high Command proved otherwise.

    He, however, urged the PDP and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s campaign team to give priority to issues like insecurity, official corruption, poverty and unemployment, instead of mischief and name-calling.

    The former head of state also claimed that he sat for WASCE in 1961 with examination number 8200002, adding that he has formerly requested for the certificate from the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina, now Government College Katsina, which he attended.

    He promised to present his certificate to the general public in due cause.

    Buhari said, “I only will read the statement and I will encourage you and advise you to do what you know best. I consented to address you this morning because of the general concern of my many supporters and well-meaning Nigerians that the issue be addressed. Otherwise, I would have dismissed it for what it is—a sheer mischief, and will not have considered it an issue.

    “ I assumed all along, all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army, a position I have been privileged to occupy myself, much to my surprise, we are now told that although, a record of the result is available, there are no copies of the certificate in my personal file. This is why I formerly requested my old school—the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina, which is now known as Government College, Katsina, to make available the school copy of the result of the Cambridge West African School Certificate. This will be made available to the press the moment this is available.

    “However, let me say for the record that I attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina. I graduated in 1961, with many prominent Nigerians, including Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, former Chief of Staff in the Supreme Headquarters; and Justice Umar Abdullahi, former President of the Court of Appeal. We sat for the University of Cambridge WASCE examination together in 1961, the year we graduated.

    “My examination number was 8200002 and I passed the examination in the Second Division, and although the ruling party may want to wish this away, the issue in this campaign may not be my certificate which I obtained 52 years ago. The issues are the scandalous level of unemployment of millions of our people, the state of the insecurity, the pervasive official corruption which has improvised our people and the lack of concern of the government to do anything order than deification of power at all cost.”

  • Army speaks on Buhari’s certificate

    Army speaks on Buhari’s certificate

    The Nigerian Army on Tuesday responded to the controversy surrounding the educational certificate of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Gen. Mohammadu Buhari.

    The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig. General Olajide Olaleye, at a press conference in Abuja, said neither the original copy, Certified True Copy (CTC) nor statement of result of Buhari’s WASC results is in his personal file.

    Olaleye, however, said Buhari’s application was duly endorsed by the Principal of Provincial Secondary School, Katsina, who also wrote a report and recommended him as suitable for military commission.

    Full text of Olaleye’s statement on the issue reads:

    “I will begin with the Major General Muhammadu Buhari certificate controversy. Gentlemen, let me state clearly that the Nigerian Army holds the retired senior officer in very high esteem and respect and would not be a party to any controversy surrounding his eligibility for any political office. Suffice to state that Major General Buhari rose steadily to the enviable rank of Major General before becoming the Head of State of our dear country in December 1983.

    “The media hype on retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s credentials as well as the numerous requests made by individuals and corporate bodies to the Nigerian Army on this issue have necessitated that we provide the facts as contained in the retired senior officer’s service record. Records available indicate that Major General M Buhari applied to join the military as a Form Six student of the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina on October 18, 1961.

    “His application was duly endorsed by the Principal of the school, who also wrote a report on him and recommended him to be suitable for military commission. It is a practice in the NA that before candidates are shortlisted for commissioning into the officers’ cadre of the Service, the Selection Board verifies the original copies of credentials that are presented. However, there is no available record to show that this process was followed in the 1960s.

    “Nevertheless, the entry made on the NA Form 199A at the point of documentation after commission as an officer indicated that the former head of state obtained the West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 with credits in relevant subjects: English Language, Geography, History, Health Science, Hausa and a pass in English Literature. However, neither the original copy, Certified True Copy (CTC) nor statement of result of Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s WASC result is in his personal file.

    “I hope this explanation will put to rest the raging controversy surrounding the secondary school credentials of Major General Mohammed Buhari as it affects the Nigerian Army.”