President Muhammadu Buhari stirred a lot of controversies after he failed submit his academic certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) being the candidate of the 2019 presidential election for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Buhari, had also in 201, failed to submit his WAEC certificate, giving the same excuse that it was with the military.
Many Nigerians including the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have continued to backlash the president over his failure to present his certificate but his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said the issue is a forgotten one.
The president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said only idle persons are the ones still speaking about it.
The presidential spokesperson told The Nation on Saturday, thus:
“The certificate saga is a dead issue, only idle people will consider it.”
“It is something that had been laid to rest before the 2015 general elections.”
“Those raising the issue (PDP and others) are idle and they have run out of ideas. They see defeat staring them in the face and they are desperate to cling to any straw. This issue was resolved before the 2015 election.”
“It is a matter of fact that when President Buhari and others joined the military, they took their original certificates from them. The military knew where they kept the original certificates of the president.
“In fact, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, corroborated that the military collected the original certificates of all its officers. The PDP believes it is going to lose the elections, and they will lose, and it is raising dust over a dead issue.
“The military already said they lost the certificates. But does it mean that it did not exist that the president went to school, sat for examinations and passed; attended military courses and War College?
“It does not change the fact that the president rose through the ranks to become a Major-General in the Nigerian Army and a Military Head of State.
“Didn’t those opposed to President Buhari go to court over his certificate and lost before? They will still lose this time around. It is a dead issue.”