Samuel Oladipupo Essoodee
The Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate in the February 23 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have made the status of President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate an issue in the petition they filed to challenge his victory in February 23 presidential election.
Among other claims, Atiku alleged that Buhari was not qualified to contest the election because the information on the certificate he submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission was allegedly false.
According to him, schools that Buhari claimed to have attended and the certificates presented by him – Elementary School, Daura and Mai Aduaa, between 1948 and 1952, Middle School Katsina between 1953 and 1956 and Katsina Provincial College (now Government College, Katsina) between 1956 to 1961 – and mentioned by the 2nd respondent in his curriculum vitae attached to Form CF 001, were not in existence as of those mentioned dates.
The PDP and Atiku added, “The 2nd respondent in Form CF 001 filled and submitted by him to the 1st Respondent at Paragraph C, Column 2, Page 3, under SECONDARY, wrote “WASC,” thereby falsely claiming that qualification whereas there was no qualification known as WASC as of 1961.
The petition reads in part: “The petitioners aver that the said Form CF001 filled by the 2nd Respondent and submitted to the 1st Respondent for the Office of President was also accompanied by the Curriculum Vitae of the 2nd Respondent as well as GENERAL FORM OF AFFIDAVIT duly sworn to by the 2nd respondent at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, along with copies of his Membership Card of the 3rd Respondent and Voter Card.
“The information submitted to the 1st respondent (INEC) by the 2nd respondent (Buhari) is false and of a fundamental nature in aid of his education qualification, notwithstanding that he had declared in the said sworn affidavit as follows: ‘I hereby declare that all the answers, facts and particulars I have given in this Form, are true and correct and I have to the best of my knowledge, fulfilled all the requirements for qualifications for the office I am seeking to be elected’.”
They also claimed that, based n what allegedly obtained on INEC’s server, Atiku beat Buhari with more than a million votes.
