2019 ELECTION: Presidency Speaks On Buhari’s Certificate Saga

The Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday hit back at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the opposition party took President Muhammadu Buhari to task over his Secondary School certificate .

The Presidency dismissed the flak from the PDP as an indication of idleness on the part of those speaking for the party on the matter, while the APC branded the criticism trivial.

“The certificate saga is a dead issue, only idle people will consider it,” the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, told The Nation yesterday when contacted.

“It is something that had been laid to rest before the 2015 general elections,” he added.

“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.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu, spoke along the same line of thought.

His words: “It is a dead issue. When PDP has something new to say, Nigerians will be ready to listen to the party.

“This certificate issue was thrashed in 2014. The President has the minimum qualification he ought to have to stand for election and he had more than the minimum.

“PDP thrives on the trivial. We want to tell Nigerians what we have achieved in the last three years and why the President should be re-elected. Instead of engaging in meaningful discourse, PDP trades on the trivial.”