My secondary school will provide its copy of my certificate to the public, says Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says he has contacted his secondary school, Provincial Secondary School, Katsina, to make available to the public, its copy of his Cambridge/West African School Certificate results.

This, he said, will lay to rest the controversies about whether he truly attended the school and has certificates to show.

Speaking with the media in Kano on Wednesday, Buhari said he only consented to the address because of the genuine concern expressed by his many supporters and other well-meaning Nigerians that the issue be addressed, else he would have dismissed it for what it is – sheer mischief – and would not have considered it an issue worth the nation’s while.

“I had assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army,” he said.

“Much to my surprise, we are now told that although a record of the result is available, there are no copies of the certificates in my personal file.

“This is why I formally requested my old school the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina [which is now known as Government College, Katsina] to make available the school’s copy of the result of the Cambridge/West African School Certificate. This will be made available to the press the moment this is available.”

He explained that he attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina, graduating in 1961 with many prominent Nigerians, including General Shehu Yar’Adua, former chief of staff at the Supreme Headquarters, and Justice Umaru Abdullahi, a former President of the Court of Appeal.

“We sat for the University of Cambridge/WASC Examination together in 1961, the year we graduated. My examination number was 8280002, and I passed the examination in the Second Division,” he said.

“And although the ruling party may want to wish this away, the issue in this campaign cannot be my certificate, which I obtained 53 years ago. The issues are the scandalous level of unemployment of millions of our young people, the state of insecurity, the pervasive official corruption, which has impoverished our people and the lack of concern of the government for anything other than the retention of power at all costs. Thank you very much.”

Controversies over Buhari’s certificate began raging on December 3o when it was discovered that he tendered an affidavit he obtained at a federal high court in Abuja, in place of certificates.

“I am the above-named person and deponent to this affidavit therein,” the document read.

“All my academic qualifications documents, as filled in my presidential form, president APC/001/2015, are currently with the secretary, military board as of the time of presenting this affidavit.

PDP demanded for original copies of his academic qualifications, saying he was unfit to become president.

But after Olajide Laleye, a brigadier-general and director of army public relations, said on Tuesday that neither the original copy, Certified True Copy (CTC) nor statement of result of Major General M Buhari’s WASC result was in his personal file, APC responded, saying its candidate was qualified to run with or without the certificate.