The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday described the certificate issue against him as “sheer mischief.”
In a press conference that lasted only few minutes, Buhari said but for the concern of his many supporters, he would have dismissed the issue which he believed has political undertone.
Buhari said: “I only consented to address you this morning because of the genuine concern expressed by many supporters and other well-meaning Nigerians that the issue be addressed.
“Otherwise, I 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. 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.
“However, before we obtain that, let me say for the record that I attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina. I graduated 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.
“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.”
Buhari’s WASC Results Released:
Controversies over the WASC, Secondary School Leaving Certificate and result of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muhammadu Buhari, may have finally been laid to rest on Wednesday evening after the Katsina Government College, (former Provincial Secondary School, Katsina), released the result, showing that Buhari passed five subjects and failed Mathematics as he claimed earlier in a press conference.
The result showed that Buhari graduated from the school in 1961 and also undertook the University of Cambridge West African School Certificate Examinations and obtained five credits in English Language, Geography, Hausa Language, History, and Health Science.
Printed on the letter-head of the state’s Ministry of Education and signed by the school’s current principal, the result was released on Wednesday after Buhari applied for the result following controversies that had trailed his certificate.
Another printout from Cambridge University also showed that he wrote the examination with the examination centre number 8280 and an examination number was 002.
The printout further showed that he actually wrote the examination with the late Shehu Yar’Adua and 17 others as he said at a press conference earlier on Wednesday.
Director of Army Public Relations, Olajide Laleye, had said on Tuesday that the Army does not have Buhari’s certificate but had a record that showed that he passed WASC.
