The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has taken a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari over the presentation of a West African Examination Council, WAEC Certificate of Attestation and Confirmation to him by the examination body last week.
The party likened the twist in the President’s certificate narrative to a huge smear on the nation’s integrity and the Office of the President.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said the development has turned the nation into a laughing stock in the West African sub-region and the entire global community, as “our President is now being mentioned as beneficiary of a duplicitous act.”
The statement read: “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.
“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. 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.
“Also, the attestation is for West African Senior School Certificate, which President Buhari couldn’t have sat for, given that the Senior School Certificate Examination was established only in the late 1980s.
“Does it not smack of 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?”
The party also noted that “by WAEC rules, attestations are only issued in the case of missing or destroyed certificate. Why then should the exam body issue an attestation to President Buhari, whose certificate, he claimed are with the military and not missing or destroyed?
“If not intended to circumvent the system and deceive Nigerians, why did President Buhari’s handlers chose to write to WAEC to issue an attestation when he, as the Commander-in-Chief, has the powers 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 apologize to the nation, having exhausted all gimmicks to mislead Nigerians.
“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. The PDP urged WAEC to redeem its image by handing over all its officials involved in the deal to the INTERPOL for investigation and prosecution, while also calling on the Nigerian Police to immediately “invite Mr. President’s handlers for questioning over this huge national embarrassment.”
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