We don’t have copy of Buhari’s WASC – Army

The Nigerian Army said yesterday it was not in possession of original copies of General Muhammadu Buhari’s West Africa School Certificate (WASC) or statement of result.It however added that Buhari’s form at the point of documentation as officer indicated that the former Head of State obtained the WASC in 1961 with credits in five subjects […]

The Nigerian Army said yesterday it was not in possession of original copies of General Muhammadu Buhari’s West Africa School Certificate (WASC) or statement of result.
It however added that Buhari’s form at the point of documentation as officer indicated that the former Head of State obtained the WASC in 1961 with credits in five subjects including English Language.
Speaking in a press conference yesterday, Army spokesman Brigadier General Olajide Laleye said the Army had been inundated with requests about Buhari’s academic qualification.

He said available records showed that the presidential candidate of the APC had qualifications to be commissioned into the army but his WASC certificate was not in his file.
His statement about Buhari reads in part: “Gentlemen, let me state clearly that the Nigerian Army holds the retired senior officer in very high esteem and respect and would not be a party to any controversy surrounding his eligibility for any political office.
“Suffice to state that Major General Buhari rose steadily to the enviable rank of Major General before becoming the Head of State of our dear country in December 1983.
“The media hype on retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s credentials as well as the numerous requests made by individuals and corporate bodies to the Nigerian Army on this issue have necessitated that we provide the facts as contained in the retired senior officer’s service record.
“Records available indicate that Major General M Buhari applied to join the military as a Form Six student of the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina on 18 Oct 1961.
“His application was duly endorsed by the Principal of the school, who also wrote a report on him and recommended him to be suitable for military commission.
“It is a practice in the NA that before candidates are shortlisted for commissioning into the officers’ cadre of the Service, the Selection Board verifies the original copies of credentials that are presented.
‘However, there is no available record to show that his process was followed in the 1960s.
“Nevertheless, the entry made on the NA Form 199A at the point of documentation after commission as an officer indicated that the former Head of State obtained the West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 with credits in relevant subjects: English Language, Geography, History, Health Science, Hausa and a pass in English Literature.
“Neither the original copy, Certified True Copy (CTC) nor statement of result of Major General M Buhari’s WASC result is in his personal file.
“I hope this explanation will put to rest the raging controversy surrounding the secondary school credentials of Major General Muhammadu Buhari as it affects the Nigerian Army.”
The ruling PDP has made Buhari’s WASC an issue in the February 14 election in which he is President Goodluck Jonathan’s main challenger.
Buhari had contested election three times and on these occasions he had presented sworn affidavits in place of his certificate which he said had been with the Nigerian Army .
Now running in the election for the fourth time, he is being challenged by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which insisted the retired army general must produce his WASC or be disqualified.
APC responds
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned that those who are bent on destroying its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on the basis of his certificates may end up destroying the country’s military.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party warned that the PDP and the Jonathan Administration were playing a dangerous game by trying to compromise the military in order to satisfy selfish political objectives. It urged the military to beware of those who might be seeking to use it to achieve selfish and divisive ends.
It said the statement credited to the Nigerian Army Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Olajide Olaleye, at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, that the Army was not in possession of Gen. Buhari’s certificate, was in direct conflict with what he said on Jan. 4th 2015 on the same issue.
‘’In an interview with The Punch on Jan. 4th 2015, Brig.-Gen. Olaleye said: ‘Every serving and retired Army officer has at least a copy of his certificates and credentials kept in the Nigerian Army while that same serving and retired officer has copies of those same certificates and credentials’.
‘’Is Brig.-Gen. Olaleye now saying that he did not make that statement? If he did, what has happened between then and now to make him to recant? It will be interesting to know what has transpired between then and now,’’ APC said.
But the party said more worrisome was the statement credited to Brig.-Gen. Olaleye that there was no evidence that the certificates of all those who joined the army in the early 1960s were verified by the selection board.
‘’Is he now saying that all those who were commissioned into the officer cadres in the 1960s did not have their certificates verified? Does this not confirm what we said that in trying to destroy Gen. Buhari, the PDP and the Jonathan Administration will end up destroying the army as an institution? Or is it only Gen. Buhari that was commissioned into the army in the 1960s,’’ it said.
The party also quoted Gen. Buhari as saying in an affidavit on 24/11/2014 that ‘’All my academic qualifications documents as filled in my presidential form, President APC/001/2015 are currently with the Secretary Military Board as at the time of this affidavit.’’
The party said those who were behind the latest controversy should now tell Nigerians what happened to Gen. Buhari’s certificates between the time of his affidavit and now.
According to APC, even if the Army now said it did not have the  certificates of Gen. Buhari, the former Head of State was still very qualified to run for the country’s highest office, as stipulated by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.