BUHARI’S CERTIFICATE CONTROVERSY “AN ISSUE DEAD ON ARRIVAL” -PRESIDENCY:
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, has described the controversy trailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate as an issue that never existed in the first place.Mr Femi Adesina, stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“Even in 2015, there was no issue. Anybody that wants to continue to beat a dead horse is welcomed.
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Adesina’s comments came hours after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemned the attestation and confirmation of result issued to President Muhammadu Buhari by the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC).
The PDP described the certificate as fake and of no effect, stressing that attestations were only issued in the case of missing or destroyed certificate according to WAEC rules, among other claims..
Adesina, however, said the party was only trying to distract Nigerians, stressing that the concerns raised by the PDP were a mere “storm in a teacup”.
“it is coming from a party that has run out of ideas. It has nothing to offer Nigerians and if they don’t hang what they are saying around the President, they have nothing to say,” he added.
The presidential aide insisted that if millions of people voted for President Buhari in the build-up to the 2015 general elections, when the certificate controversy started, more would vote for him in 2019.
“Some people are so contentious that if they find nobody to contend with, they will begin to contend with themselves,” he said.
“Some people will just not be satisfied with anything. For those who believe, no evidence is needed and for those who don’t believe, you can’t convince them.”
The Presidency and the PDP disagreed two days after WAEC Registrar, Dr Iyi Uwadiae, led some officials of the examination body to the Presidential Villa where he presented the document to the President.
Nevertheless, the opposition party PDP had earlier described the weac document issued to president Buhari as fake. This was stated in a statement on Sunday, two days after WAEC Registrar, Dr Iyi Uwadiae, presented the document to the President at the Presidential Villa.
“A check on the attestation clearly shows that it does not have the “Original Certificate Number”, the key authentication feature in all genuine attestations by WAEC,” the PDP claimed in the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan.
It added, “Instead, a ‘non-applicable’ is entered, indicating that the beneficiary does not have a certificate to be attested to, thus rendering the said attestation unauthenticated, fake and of no effect.
“Most appalling is that Mr President’s handlers have succeeded in dragging a reputable institution as WAEC into public disrepute and opprobrium, as Nigerians are quick to demonstrate marks of forgery in the attestation issued by the examination body.”
The party noted that the attestation was for West African Senior School Certificate, alleging that President Buhari could not have sat for the examination as the Senior School Certificate Examination was established in the late 1980s.
“Does it not smack of a high-level scam that the same WAEC, which, in 2015, confirmed that it does not have records of President Buhari’s certificate, now had to send officials to present Mr President with an attestation, that has no original certificate number?” it queried.
The PDP noted that by WAEC rules, attestations were only issued in the case of missing or destroyed certificate.
It then wondered why the examination body would issue an attestation to President Buhari, saying the President had said his certificate was with the military and not missing or destroyed.
The party accused the Presidency of using the development to deceive Nigerians, adding that President Buhari should have used his powers as the Commander-in-Chief to direct the military to make available his credentials for all to see.
“What the unauthenticated attestation has shown is that Mr President does not have a WAEC certificate; we urge his handlers to humbly so admit and apologise to the nation, having exhausted all gimmicks to mislead Nigerians,” it claimed.
The PDP purported, “The Buhari Presidency should know that there is no way the truth can be suppressed. In fact, the current disagreement between the Presidency and WAEC over who initiated the attestation deal is also very revealing.
SOURCE :channelstv.com
