The Presidency has lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari presents his West African Examinations Council, WAEC, certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as a prerequisite to participate in the 2019 presidential election.
Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said the PDP and those making a fuss of the situation are idle.
Buhari had while submitting his presidential nomination form to INEC ahead of the February 2019 election, presented a sworn affidavit instead of his certificates.
In the affidavit, Buhari claimed his credentials are still with the Nigerian Army where he was an officer until his retirement in 1985. Against this backdrop, PDP challenged Buhari to present his WAEC certificate, stressing that Nigerians will not “accept NEPA bill” this time round.
Adesina, in his reaction to the fuss created by the development, maintained that Buhari’s certificate matter was a dead issue.
Speaking to The Nation, Adesina said, “The certificate saga is a dead issue, only idle people will consider it. It is something that had been laid to rest before the 2015 general elections.
Those raising the issue (PDP and others) are idle and they have run out of ideas. They see defeat staring them in the face and they are desperate to cling to any straw. This issue was resolved before the 2015 election.
“It is a matter of fact that when President Buhari and others joined the military, they took their original certificates from them. The military knew where they kept the original certificates of the President. In fact, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade corroborated that the military collected the original certificates of all its officers. The PDP believes it is going to lose the elections, and they will lose, and it is raising dust over a dead issue.
“The military already said they lost the certificates. But does it mean that it did not exist that the President went to school, sat for examinations and passed; attended military courses and War College. It does not change the fact that the President rose through the ranks to become a Major-General in the Nigerian Army and a Military Head of State. Didn’t those opposed to President Buhari go to court over his certificate and lost before? They will still lose this time around. It is a dead issue.”
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