Buhari: Coming clean on this certificate embarrassment – New Telegraph

About four years ago, in the run-up to the 2015 general elections, one of the main issues of discuss between now President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the campaign war was the issue of certificates of Buhari. While the president held that his certificates were with the Military Board as was customary with military in his time, the PDP and opponents of Buhari insisted that he had none. The issue generated so much heat in the polity that many wondered how Buhari became an army General without the basic West Africa School Certificate (WASC).
The argument was laid to rest when Buhari defeated former President Goodluck Jonathan at the presidential polls in 2015. We recall that in the heat of the debate, some cynical Nigerians had said that even if Buhari presented a NEPA bill, they would vote for him. Nigerians eventually voted for Buhari, who became president without submitting his certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as requested by the law.
In June 2016, a Federal High Court in Abuja had struck out a suit filed by a lawyer, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, challenging Buhari’s claim that his certificates were with the Military Board. Justice Ademola Adeniyi struck out the case following a notice of discontinuance of the matter by the plaintiff.
The president’s lawyers, who defended him in the suit were Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Mr. Lateef O. Fagbemi (SAN), Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), Kola Awodein (SAN), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Charles Edosomwan (SAN), Emeka Ngige (SAN), Femi Atoyebi (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN), Funke Aboyade (SAN), H.O. Afolabi (SAN), Muiz Banire (SAN), and 10 other counsel.
Barely four years after the last election and two years after the case was dismissed, the Buhari certificate challenge has come up again. Last Thursday, when INEC published the list of over 70 candidates running for the post of the president in the 2019 election, it emerged again that Buhari has not submitted his credentials as required by the law. The excuse is the same as in 2014, when the matter first came up. His certificates are still with the military board.
Again, as was in 2014, Buhari has opened his wings for attack from his opponents. The main opposition party, the PDP, had on Friday, told the president to sort out the certificate issue once and for all. Many other Nigerians have also expressed outrage with the issue.
The Presidency is insisting that the certificate issue is settled. “This is a waste of time because we have the record of this – WASC – and of higher qualifications obtained by hard work and truly merited by Mr. President.
“This certificate story is an old one; it is a settled issue in the courts,” Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said.
Already, the court battle has started. Two cases have been filed in Lagos and Osogbo courts by lawyers asking President Buhari to be disqualified from the 2019 presidential poll over his failure to produce his certificates.
We recall that in the heat of the 2015 elections, the military had at a press conference said that Buhari’s certificates were not in its custody. But we take that with a pinch of salt because of the prevailing political climate then, knowing full well that the scales were tilted against Buhari as an opposition candidate then. But now that the President is the Commander-in-Chief, can we get the true picture of the certificate issue? We say so because if the law required the candidates to present their credentials before INEC to be cleared, Buhari cannot be an exemption. That is moreso as the opposition has found it a veritable ground to feast on and taunt the president.
We find it hard to believe that Buhari could have risen to the rank of a General in the Nigerian Army without any certificate as ordinary as the WASC for any reason. We also acknowledge that in the course of attaining that lofty height in the military, the president passed through various trainings, drills and on-the-job training. But the requirement of the law remains the O’level certificate, which in his case has become a subject of contention.
We, therefore, believe that there is an urgent need for the president, his handlers and the appropriate authorities to speak up on the matter to rest the case once and for all.
For instance, couldn’t he have had the certificate re-issued at the school where he took the examination? Is it difficult for the appropriate authorities to investigate the records and determine if he sat for the examinations or not?
We have seen his classmates in several pictures during some of his trips to his native Katsina. Can we have any evidence that he sat for the exams with some of them?
For President Buhari, we believe there is a serious need to come clean on the matter to save himself and the nation the embarrassment the certificate issue has caused. His integrity is at stake. He must not be seen as being treated as an exception to the rule