The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Muhammadu Buhari has addressed the press in Kano about the status of his
high school certificate.
Speaking to journalists at the Presidential Lodge at the Kano State
government house earlier, General Buhari said he was constrained to
address the press because of the genuine concern of Nigerians and his
admirers.
He stated that he wrote the Cambridge/WASC examination 53 years ago
at the Provincial Secondary School in Katsina. He listed his examination
number 8280002 saying he passed in the second division.
Speaking further, he said that he has directed his former secondary
school-now Government College, Katsina- to publish his high school
diploma results in national newspapers as soon as it is available.
Buhari used the opportunity to name two people he claimed were his
classmates in high school, they include late politician and retired army
general, Musa Yar’Adua and a retired President of the Court of Appeal,
Umaru Abdullahi.
Below is the Press Statement by General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the School Certificate Issue
Good Morning, Gentlemen of the Press.
I only consented to address you this morning because of
the genuine concern expressed by many supporters and other well-meaning
Nigerians that the issue be addressed. Otherwise, I would have dismissed
it for what it is – sheer mischief and would not have considered it an
issue worth the nation’s while.
I had assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army.
Much to my surprise, we are now told that although a
record of the result is available, there are no copies of the
certificates in my personal file. This is why I formally requested my
old school the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina [which is now known
as Government College, Katsina]to make available the school’s copy of
the result of the Cambridge/West African School Certificate.
This will be made available to the press the moment this is available.
However, before we obtain that, let me say for the record
that I attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina. I graduated in
1961 with many prominent Nigerians, including General Shehu Yar’Adua,
former chief of staff at the Supreme Headquarters, and Justice Umaru
Abdullahi, a former President of the Court of Appeal. We sat for the
University of Cambridge/WASC Examination together in 1961, the year we
graduated. My examination number was 8280002, and I passed the
examination in the Second Division.
And although the ruling party may want to wish this away,
the issue in this campaign cannot be my certificate which I obtained 53
years ago.
The issues are the scandalous level of unemployment of
millions of our young people, the state of insecurity, the pervasive
official corruption which has impoverished our people and the lack of
concern of the government for anything other than the retention of power
at all costs.
Thank you very much.
General Muhammadu Buhari
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