Buhari speaks on certificate saga

‎Unconfirmed: 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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Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE

Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner