The opposition political parties also challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to make public copies of his school certificates to prove he really attended secondary school.
The Peoples Democratic Party, in a statement on Friday signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, specifically challenged the President to show proof of his integrity by presenting his academic documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission, instead of bugging the commission with affidavits.
The PDP said while its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had submitted his educational and other relevant documents to INEC, Buhari “is rather seeking ways to short-circuit the system, instead of complying with set rules.”
Ologbondiyan said, “Indeed, a situation where President Buhari has been dodging the certificate issue raises a huge question of integrity, which demands that he makes available his credentials or apologise to Nigerians, if he has none, so that the nation can move ahead.”
Speaking in a similar vein, the co-spokesperson for the Coalition of United Peoples Parties, Mr. Mark Adebayo, said it was now clear to all Nigerians to see that the President simply did not possess the minimum requirement to contest the 2019 election.
Also, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, said he was surprised the President would make the same mistake he made in 2015 when he said his certificate was with the military.
Agbakoba added, “It’s a fairly serious matter that the court would have to interpret. Any Nigerian concerned with upholding the constitution could take the matter to court, and they won’t be considered a meddlesome interloper in the matter. Let the court decide.”
According to the National President, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, the President should be disqualified from contesting to retain his seat should he fail to provide the required credentials.
The Director of Strategic Communications, Coalition for Nigeria Movement, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, said it was hypocritical of Buhari to be claiming to have integrity when he kept failing at “small issues” like this.
Go to court, INEC…
In his reaction, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday urged Nigerians who feel concerned strongly about the President’s credentials to approach the court.
He said INEC decided to make the particulars of all candidates public for the sake of transparency and in line with the Electoral Act.
Responding to a specific question on Buhari’s certificate, he said, “Are you asking for confirmation whether the certificate is with the military? We have pasted the form CF001 in all the constituencies for all candidates nominated by their political parties.
“Are there details in the form that you think are inaccurate? The citizens, if convinced there is inaccurate information, can initiate legal action.”
Source: Punch