As the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal kicked off few months ago, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sent a team of lawyers and other party agents to the University of Cambridge to confirm the authenticity of the West African School Certificate (WASC) of President Muhammadu Buhari.
A Cambridge source said that the opposition party did not only send a delegation but also made a request seeking potential evidence, citing doubts about the authenticity of the President’s WASC results.
The source said that the PDP representatives who visited Cambridge were stunned to discover that the President did write the examination, passed and were even dumbfounded when they cited the well kept records of the Cambridge University.
The source said even the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and associates requested Cambridge provide them with a confirmation of his certificate.
“Cambridge Assessment International Education had to issue a certifying statement that indeed President Buhari sat for his examinations in 1961. It was because the institution was inundated with requests for the verification of his result.”
The source said the institution is surprised that the opposition party still claims that the President does not have a certificate even after it had demanded for it and was handed evidence.
This revelation from Cambridge is coming amid the circulation on Friday of a pre-2015 election video, slanted to give the impression that the President’s certificate is still a contentious issue.
In a press statement on Friday by Oladele Peter, the Secretary of Initiative to Save Democracy (ISD) said it is sub judice for the opposition party to continue to make attempts at preempting the judgment of the Presidential Election Tribunal.
“The desperation of the PDP is frightening, very frightening to say the least. They will stop at nothing and I expect Nigerians to be aware of their antics by now. They have peddled all kind of falsehood against the President especially the claim that he does not have a certificate but have always failed.”
He noted that the first attempt to ridicule the President was in 2014 before the 2015 elections, stressing that, if they have any evidence contrary to what has been presented in court and what they themselves discovered at Cambridge and which was tendered in the open court, they should present it.
“The PDP is free to present its counter-evidence if there is any but they know that there is no such document or evidence. They are only playing on the emotions of Nigerians by peddling fake news; a 2015 video deliberately slanted. It is time Nigerians become more aware of this,” he said.
Mr Peter said it is another signal of desperation that the opposition party has even gone to the extent of populating an old video in which the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed was deliberately taken out of context.
“This is a very old video, for those of us who watch Channels TV we were stunned to see the video making the rounds, it’s old and ridiculous. If you watch the video, you will find that Mr. Mohammed never said they should pardon the President, instead he said if someone does not find his or her certificate after 53 years they could be pardoned.
According to him, “it is unbelievable how the opposition party and its backers continue to push a media campaign hoping to confuse everybody, yet in the court of law, their case was clearly shown to be hopeless and baseless.”
Besides the Cambridge University Certificate the President’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun also presented in court class photos of the President and his classmates. The Cambridge University Certificate was obtained personally by the President’s Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari who travelled to the UK to secure it in mid-July.
While Malam Suleman Mai-adua, Buhari’s classmate in Katsina Provincial Secondary School presented to the court the group photograph of the school’s class six of 1961 set.
