The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has said that the controversies surrounding the academic qualifications of the the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), must not be swept under the carpet insisting that the General must come clean on the issue.
The ruling party said the presidential flag-bearer of the APC should clear the controversy surrounding his certificates.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, had recently been reported to have said “Gen. Buhari must tell Nigerians in clear terms where his certificates are. He should stop taking
Nigerians for a ride. We demand he clears the air on this before the day of the election.”
The APC presidential candidate had in a document submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission sworn that his credentials were with the military. But the military said the certificates were not in Buhari’s personal files. Government College Katsina, however, issued Buhari’s statement of result.
The Senior Special Adviser to the president on Public Affairs Dr Doyin Okupe also insisted that, “It is inconceivable that allegations as weighty as forgery and perjury will be made against the person of a retired General and a former Head of State without him deeming it necessary to conclusively debunk such allegations but would rather pass the buck to other persons or organisations.
“We consider this as an unstatesmanlike assault on the intelligence of Nigerians and it represents the greatest challenge between Gen Buhari and the office he seeks to occupy.”
He stated that the former head of state had a few weeks ago said secondary school certificate was in three different quarters: the Military Board, his former secondary school and now the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Okupe noted that the West African Examinations Council recently “declared that it did not have any records of Buhari’s secondary school certificate just as the military authorities did.”
He stated that the only two factors which Buhari’s “propagandists” had hinged his candidacy on were his incorruptibility and integrity.
The presidential aide said, “While the report of the Haroun Adamu committee on the mismanagement of a sum of N25bn at the PTF (Petroleum Trust Fund) has completely wiped off the vaunted incorruptibility, the General’s integrity credential is being threatened by this odious certificate issue.
“It has therefore become imperative for him to quickly put an end to this unnecessary and inexplicable certificate controversies; otherwise the only remaining leg on which he is supposedly standing may be fatally destroyed.”
Okupe said Buhari and the APC “who mouth corruption everywhere should clear the air on this matter or forever bury their heads in shame.”
