The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, UCLES, now Cambridge Assessment, on Monday, November 5, clears the doubts on President Muhammad Buhari’s school certificate, but many Nigerians still doubt his qualification

By Emeka Ejere

A new twist to President Mohammadu Buhari’s certificate saga emerged Monday, November 5, when the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, UCLES, now Cambridge Assessment, provided further details on the West African School Certificate, WASC, results presented by the president.

In a post on its website, the university confirmed that result grades for the examination in 1961 were issued in numbers, not letters, as suggested by critics of the president, who had dismissed the results he presented as fabricated.

Buhari, in a sworn affidavit which he presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, claimed he had credits in English Language, Geography, Health Science, Hausa Language, but failed Mathematics and Woodwork, and had a pass in Literature in English.

While the controversy has continued to rage with Nigerians asking for the original certificate to justify those claims instead of an affidavit, the Cambridge University has attempted to clarify issues.

According to Cambridge, “Examination results were classed in grades from 1 to 9. “1, 2,3,4,5 & 6 indicate a Pass with Credit; 7 & 8 indicate a Pass; 9 indicate a Failure.”

In its post, Cambridge said for candidates to qualify for its certificate in 1961, they needed to pass English, and not necessarily Mathematics.

“To pass the School Certificate, candidates had to pass examinations in a variety of groups. It was compulsory to pass English Language, but not Maths, in order to gain the certificate,” the university said.

While there is no doubt as to whether President Buhari attended a secondary school, the controversy has been that he joined the Nigerian Military while still in Standard Six with a letter of recommendation by the then principal of his school, Provincial Secondary School Katsina (now Government College Katsina), in 1961, though the letter was signed with no name.

There are doubts as to whether he eventually completed his secondary education, hence his inability to provide the certificate.

Buhari has always insisted that his West African Examination Certificate, WAEC, certificate was with the secretary of the Military Board. But in 2015, the military, through Olajide Laleye, its then director of Army Public Relations, denied being in possession of the certificate and that there was no record to show that Buhari submitted such important document.

Even the Government College Katsina, the secondary school where Buhari was said to have written the examinations in 1961, did not have a copy of the original certificate or the original certificate number.

The school only had a statement of result signed by the principal of the school in 2015 and a computer printout from the Cambridge University.

Had the WAEC been able to authenticate the computer printout from Cambridge in 2015, perhaps, nobody would have been talking of Buhari’s WAEC certificate today.

The WAEC’s delay prompted Buhari getting the services of a litany of lawyers to defend himself after Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, an Abuja-based lawyer, accused him of forging his WAEC results.

Now, the president has used a window opened by the WAEC for candidates who might have lost their certificates, to obtain a ‘’confirmation of result.’’ The council on November 2, 2018, presented an attestation of result to Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a reaction said Buhari had entangled himself in a web of corruption by trying to launder his WAEC certificate scandal instead of being remorseful and apologising to Nigerians.

In a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, its spokesman, the PDP said the Presidency displayed the highest form of corruption and decadence by getting involved in “manipulations, forgery and lies” in an attempt to hoodwink Nigerians with bogus claims, even when it had become clear that the president did not possess the claimed WAEC certificate.

He said: “Nothing is more humiliating to our nation than having our Presidency entangled in high-level of international corruption involving the name and personality of the president, the latest being the procuring and parading of fake WAEC certificate attestation.”

Controversies over Buhari’s educational qualification are not new. They were a major issue during the 2015 election. But perhaps because there was a widespread disenchantment with the PDP-led government of the then President Goodluck Jonathan, many Nigerians did not care much and were satisfied with his explanation concerning his certificate.

Perhaps, because the party in power realised too late that the support Buhari enjoyed could lead to victory, the party was not explicit in its insistence on Buhari showing evidence of school certificate education. Buhari went on to win that election and is today an elected president seeking re-election.

However, his popularity appears to have plummeted and in the wake of the PDP’s primaries that produced Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president, as presidential candidate, supporters of the PDP candidate and other Nigerians are again asking that Buhari show evidence that he is school certificate-qualified to be president.

This is coming as the president’s supporters are questioning the source of Abubakar’s vast wealth. The former vice-president, who has for a very long time nursed a presidential ambition is considered a formidable opponent, having got the right connections and sufficient wealth to give Buhari a good run for his money and position as incumbent president.

But just as many Nigerians in 2015 cared less about questions concerning Buhari’s certificates, they seem not bothered about issues concerning the source of Abubakar’s wealth today.

“If not for anything else, what this all shows is the level of disenchantment with Buhari’s performance, especially the hollowness of his anti-corruption fight that is perpetually impervious to corruption allegations and even evidence against not a few of his close associates,” Rotimi Fasan, a political analyst, said.

“Add that to Buhari’s nepotism, his open partiality to Nigerians from both his region and religion and his failure to decisively end persistent insecurity in different parts of the country, especially in the Middle Belt and North-east of the country.

“The government’s disrespect for the rule of law is yet another point at issue. In Buhari’s narrow world, the perversion of justice that comes with disrespect for the rule of law, evidenced best by his administration’s cheery-picking of which court orders to obey or not, is not corruption.

“But Nigerians see things differently and are openly challenging the president’s position in the manner they have chosen to ignore questions about Atiku’s wealth,” he added.

Carl Umegboro, a public affairs analyst and an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, does not see the need for the certificate debacle since there is nothing absolute about WAEC certificate in the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, in respect of contesting for the office of the president.

He said it amounts to absurdity to be heating up the polity over Buhari’s o’level.

According to him, “Buhari’s rank as a Major-General in the Nigerian Army is a certification superior to o’level which cannot be contested, let alone several doctorate degrees from various accredited universities in the country.

“Other various trainings and certification in the military are equally all superior to WASC and therefore Buhari is not under any obligations to present o’level or any particular certificate as far as the election to the office of the President is concerned.

“Having acquired numerous certificates, Buhari is at liberty to present any of the certificates he holds. If his WAEC certificate is unavailable, any of his other certificates can serve the purpose provided it is superior or equivalent to o’level.”