The Presidency has said only lazy people are the ones discussing the non-submission certificate saga of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Buhari who is seeking a second term in office has again failed to submit his academic credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It is stipulated that candidates for elective positions must submit their credentials to the electoral body.
For Buhari, a retired Major General of the Nigerian Army, his certificates are with the military. He made the claims in an affidavit he attached to his presidential form at the time. The military came out to debunk the claim.
The issue first came to national discuss in 2014 when it was made know to the public that the then candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) had no educational qualification to back up documents he submitted to INEC.
Although Buhari, who now governs the country, had severally contested election to the same position and failed, the issue of his educational qualifications had not been known until 2014 when it came to the knowledge of the public.
NGPOLITICS recalled some Nigerians at the time said the revelation was the handiwork of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to suppress the growing influence of Buhari.
Submitting his 2019 presidential form, the president restated his earlier claim, an action that has generated reactions from Nigerians with some of them saying the president was being economical with the truth on the whereabout of his academic credentials.
For the PDP, Buhari should present his academic credentials to INEC or apologize to Nigerians.
Reacting to the development, the Presidency said those discussing the issue have nothing to do as the subject matter had long been laid to rest.
“The certificate saga is a dead issue, only idle people will consider it,” TheNation Newspaper quoted Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, as saying on Saturday.
“It is something that had been laid to rest before the 2015 general elections.
“Those raising the issue (PDP and others) are idle and they have run out of ideas. They see defeat staring them in the face and they are desperate to cling to any straw. This issue was resolved before the 2015 election.
“It is a matter of fact that when President Buhari and others joined the military, they took their original certificates from them. The military knew where they kept the original certificates of the president.
“In fact, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, corroborated that the military collected the original certificates of all its officers. The PDP believes it is going to lose the elections, and they will lose, and it is raising dust over a dead issue.
“The military already said they lost the certificates. But does it mean that it did not exist that the president went to school, sat for examinations and passed; attended military courses and War College?
“It does not change the fact that the president rose through the ranks to become a Major-General in the Nigerian Army and a Military Head of State.
“Didn’t those opposed to President Buhari go to court over his certificate and lost before? They will still lose this time around. It is a dead issue,” Mr Adesina said.
