Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday alleged that the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, was not qualified to contest next month’s presidential election because he did not possess the minimum academic requirement for the post. PDP also alleged that there had been a deliberate cover-up of Buhari’s lack of requisite educational qualification by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The media director of PDP’s presidential campaign organisation, which is seeking another term for President Goodluck Jonathan, Femi Fani-Kayode, made the assertions at a press conference in Abuja.
Fani-Kayode said, “The inability of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, to present even the minimum requirement of just a school leaving certificate questions his moral and other credentials for pursuing the position of the president of Nigeria. The current shocking disclosures bring to the fore how and what qualifications were used to recruit him into the military, without a minimum school leaving certificate, where he rose to the rank of a General and even became the Head of State…
“Thus, the question must be asked: is Buhari or any other citizen qualified to contest election into the office of the president without meeting the minimum constitutional requirement?”
But APC dismissed the allegations against Buhari as a fuss about nothing. APC said the ruling party was merely trying to divert attention from urgent national troubles, particularly, the deteriorating security situation in the country, which recently culminated in the massacre of hundreds of citizens at Baga, a community in Borno State, by the Boko Haram insurgents.
A statement by the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the APC presidential campaign council told Jonathan to address the country on the massacre at Baga town, which Boko Haram took over after sacking a military base there.
Amnesty International called the killings at Baga the deadliest by Boko Haram since the beginning of the terrorist onslaught in 2009.
“This government should not go on being insensitive. They have to account to Nigerians. The issue of certificate of General Buhari is a non-issue, as everyone knows that Buhari is a product of Daura Primary School, Katsina, Provisional Secondary School (now Government College, Katsina), and the Nigerian Military Training College. This is in addition to several other courses he attended at home and abroad,” the APC campaign council said.
APC said the PDP-led federal government had failed in its primary duty to Nigerians and was only trying to hide that failure under the cover of a pointless certificate alarm. It emphasised concerning PDP, “A leading member of the party, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, a few days ago, informed Nigerians that in politics, you must tell lies. Nigerians should take their cue from there.
“Unfortunately, PDP has become a political party that is so fixated with keeping an incompetent government in power and is lustfully engaged in pursuing a non-issue about an individual’s academic qualifications.”
The minimum academic qualification for the position of president in Nigeria is the Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent. PDP alleged that documents published by INEC showed that Buhari had not submitted the minimum educational particulars for neither next month’s presidential election nor the 2011 presidential poll he had also contested. It said the APC presidential candidate should prove that he had the said qualification, stressing, “If the constitution did not require proof, it would not specify a minimum.”
Alleging falsehood in the affidavit by Buhari, which said all records regarding his personal particulars were with the Secretary of the Military Board, Fani-Kayode stated, “First in the INEC Form CF 001 for 2015 filled by General Buhari at section C of the form, the instruction on the form clearly states ‘Attach evidence of all educational qualifications’ – this was not done.
“Yet an affidavit was sworn otherwise. Curiously, he did not refer INEC to this board in 2011 in his records available for anyone who cares to see how Buhari has, in breach of the constitution of 1999, contested elections without meeting the mandatory constitutional requirement and has been treated preferentially…
“It is common knowledge that military board like any other bodies do not keep or retain original copies of personal particulars of individuals such as birth certificates, passports, and academic credentials of any personnel, especially retired personnel after over three decades.
“It must be stated that INEC erred in law by publishing the name of a candidate without receiving the personal particulars of the candidate within seven days of receiving his nomination forms as indicated in section 31(3).”
Meanwhile, APC has accused Jonathan of being hypocritical in his persistent claim of reviving the railway system when he had refused to grant the necessary right-of-way approval to the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA) for the construction of its Redline light rail project from Iddo, in
Lagos, to Ifo, in Ogun State. The party said the refusal to allow the construction of the light rail, which has the capacity to carry one million passengers per day, was despite the fact that investors had expressed their readiness to invest over $1 billion in the project.
In a statement yesterday, the APC national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in failing to grant the approval, which has been pending since May 2013, Jonathan showed he held the people of the South-west and Lagos State, in particular, in contempt.
APC’s assertions followed claims by Jonathan that Buhari had during his military regime cancelled a metro project planned by the then government of Alhaji Lateef Jakande.
In the meantime, Buhari has reiterated his intention to accord priority to security and unemployment if elected president next month. He said at a campaign rally in Awka on Saturday, “Insecurity and unemployment are two things that worry me in this country.
They give me a lot of concern. The story everyday in Nigeria is either that hundreds of lives were lost to the insurgency of an insignificant ragtag group, which the government of the day is not doing enough to arrest, or those of kidnappings and armed robbery all over the place.
“The kidnap of over 200 Chibok girls from their school in the north eastern part of the country has taken eight months now without any trace of them. We are passionate about the security of this country.”
Also campaigning at a rally in Enugu yesterday, Buhari promised to revive the Enugu coal industry for power generation and rebuild the moribund Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO) to create employment and boost the economy of the South-east.
On agriculture, the APC candidate said he will encourage the rice producing areas to boost rice production and provide micro-credit for small and medium industries.
“The provision of stable electricity will discourage massive importation of power generators and reduce cost of production by the industries. That is why it has become imperative to revive the coal industry in Enugu,” he said.
Buhari restated his intention to tackle corruption, saying, “If Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.
We must vote out the PDP because if you make the mistake of allowing the PDP to rule again for another four years, Nigeria will be in trouble.”
Thisday