The Chairman of the Buhari Vanguard, Mr Jasper Azuatalam on Wednesday maintained that the People’s Democratic Party has run out of ideas to use in distracting Nigerians ahead of the 2015 general elections.
“I think the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have lost an idea of what they want to say again to distract Nigerians and this is about the only thing remaining for them to bring up”, he said via phone on Sunrise Daily.
Reacting to the military’s denial of possessing the WASC certificate of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Azuatalam noted that “because there were some issues that were being viable that the PDP were still using to distract the people, like the issue of religion, fanaticism, but overtime we have been so lucky that most of these things have been addressed and Nigerians have found out that General Muhammadu Buhari is not a religious fanatic.
He also noted that “General Muhammadu Buhari has gotten more than the minimum requirements to contest any position in Nigeria” insisting that “I don’t think it is reasonable for anyone to be in doubt that General Buhari attended a secondary school and had no certificate”.
He said his office had approached the Nigerian military to make public the records of the former Head of State and “from what they said, they have given evidence that the Principal in the Provincial Secondary School that General Muhammadu Buhari attended, wrote a letter of recommendation to identify Gen Buhari as a student of his school.
“In the record they have, they also said Gen Buhari had credit required in some subjects before you can be enrolled in the army” he said.
Mr Azuatalam, however accused the military of not wanting to go further “because they feel they will offend the government”, wondering why the Nigerian Army refused to state other international academic records of Buhari which “they spent their money to send him”.
He maintained that Gen Buhari has contested elections severally as a retired general and nobody has brought up this issue of certificate.
The Nigerian Army had yesterday during a press conference noted that besides other qualifications obtained by the General while in service, it was not in possession of his West African School Certificate.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Olajide Laleye, who said the army has been inundated with request for the General’s credentials, added that it was only in possession of a letter from the Principal of the Provincial Secondary School, Kastina, recommending Buhari fit for military commissioning in 1960.
He said that the Army also have in its possessions Nigerian Army Form 199A where the General indicated after commissioning that he obtained credits in four subjects and a pass in another. However, it is not in possession of a certificate to prove same.
