Fresh controversy has trailed the attestation certificate issued to President Muhammadu Buhari by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
While the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) described the development as a tragicomedy, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), accused the Council of manufacturing result for All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Buhari and tampering with records to shield him from disqualification by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On Friday, WAEC Registrar, Iyi Uwadiae presented attestation and confirmation certificate to President Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The President had come under criticism following his comments that his WAEC certificate was with the Military.
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Reacting to the issuance of the attestation certificate to the President by WAEC, the National Publicity secretary of PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, lambasted the Presidency for trying to mislead Nigerians to say that the President has a school certificate.
According the PDP spokesperson: “It is a tragicomedy. We never expected Mr. President to dramatically come this low because you cannot have a certificate and be calling it an attestation.
“What are they attesting to? We stand by our position that Mr. President has no school certificate. It’s simply a political certificate. We have said that the Buhari presidency and his handlers are always fretting at the mention of a certificate.”
He wondered why the President did not use the attestation certificate in previous elections, even as he questioned the passport photograph attached to the document.
“You remember the procured Martin Luther Award presented to our president which later was discovered to be fake? This is a similar award, a procured. We are waiting for the story of its declaration as another procured document,” the statement added.
On its part, the Coalition of United Political Parties described the sudden release of the document few days to the commencement of the suit seeking to disqualify Buhari from the 2019 election as laughable, unbelievable and a desperate effort to mislead the court and shield the President from disqualification from participation in the 2019 general election.
The CUPP in a statement issued in Abuja by the National Spokesperson Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere called on WAEC to produce the official ledger and booklet containing the scores and records of names of students of the Provincial Secondary School Katsina, in 1961 now called Government Secondary School.
He insisted that there is no evidence to show that the President participated in the 1961 exams.
“Let Nigerians be reminded that few days ago the opposition raised an alarm that there was ongoing move to tamper with the records of WAEC and pressure the leadership into manufacturing a result for President Buhari. Today’s action of WAEC have vindicated our earlier fears and confirmed our stand that WAEC is now competing with Oluwole Market in manufacturing documents,” Spokesperson of the Coalition said.
The CUPP challenged WAEC to publicly display the original 1961 ledger and booklet containing the names of the 1961 candidates who sat for the exam from the Provincial Secondary School Kastina to back up their confirmation of result issued to President Buhari or apologise to Nigerians for attempting to mislead with the booklet and destroy the credibility of the examination body.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
