BUHARIGATE:
‘WAEC HEADQUARTERS GHANA has NO TRACE of Certified True Copies of MOHAMMED BUHARI Examination Certificate in our Archives Records & Aptitude Test Department’-BOAMA GYIMA, Head of National Office, WAEC HQ. GHANA
…’We cannot validate the Attestation of Result purportedly issued by WAEC Nigeria’
*Sets up high-powered meeting to query Nigeria’s membership of the council
*Plans to summon Nigeria’s WAEC officials to explain why the body printed attestation certificate
* ‘As a Nigerian military officer, it would have been impossible for me to have attended the Defence Services Staff College in India in 1973, and, after that – in 1979 – the United States Army War College, had I not sat for the WASC examinations, which I did in 1961’–President BUHARI
BY AKUA KWEKU/EDUCATION REPORTER, ACCRA & AHMED YUSUFU/STAFF WRITER, ABUJA
IT SEEMS THERE ARE MORE TOUGHER HILLS AHEAD FOR NIGERIA’S PRESIDENT, MUHAMMADU BUHARI TO CLIMB as the nation’s 2019 elections draw closer. Having received attestation and confirmation of result from officials of West African Examination Council (WAEC) Nigeria led by Dr. Iyi Uwadiae Registrar in State House, Abuja, the presidency strongly believes all dust generated by the controversy would finally settle. But WAEC Headquarters in Accra, Ghana has faulted the validity of the result issued to President Buhari wondering how the Nigeria’s national body ‘generated’ the result that has no trace in their data record.
Naija Standard correspondent in Ghana reached out to an aide within WAEC Headquarters in Ghana, who confirmed that the attestation result from WAEC Nigeria has become very troublesome for the council and the body had set up emergency meeting to investigate how, why and what could have led the national body in Nigeria to issue such a controversial statement bearing in mind that such documentation cannot be found in the Archives Records & Aptitude Test Department of WAEC Headquarters-a strong room where all WAEC certificates across West Africa are kept.
“I can confirm to you that the Attestation and Confirmation issued to Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari by officials of WAEC Nigeria came to WAEC Headquarters in Ghana in sudden shock, since there are rules, ethics and procedure to follow in matters of this nature. They have been holding series of meetings to get to the bottom of this matter and save the integrity of WAEC, as the world is watching the outcome. I heard from one of the assistants to Boama Gyima, Head of National Office here in Accra, Ghana saying they may have to issue a query to all WAEC Nigeria officials that visited Buhari in Aso Rock to explain to them why, how it sourced such attestation that has no trace in WAEC Headquarters, Ghana. The assistant explained WAEC Headquarters cannot validate or vouch for the authenticity of the result received by Nigeria’s President.
“Don’t forget this was a similar position taken since 2015 when our office here in Ghana received letter from Nigeria asking to verify if Mohammed Buhari had an authentic WAEC result. As at this morning, WAEC Headquarters Ghana is still standing upon the same position that Buhari’s name is not in our data archive,” explained this aide who would not want his name in print to avert backlash since he is not authorized to speak with the press.
This source assured our correspondents that plans are already ongoing to summon Nigeria’s WAEC officials to explain why the body printed attestation certificate and ready to query Nigeria’s membership of the council to ‘save the integrity of WAEC.’
Corroborating this position was a letter earlier written by Gyima, Head of National Office in Accra, which reads: “The West African Examination Council (Ghana) cannot provide the Certified True Copy of the examination records of Mohammed Buhari who attended school in Provincial Secondary School, Katsina in Nigeria. The above records cannot be found in the archives of the Records and Aptitude Test Department in Ghana.”
Meanwhile, President Buhari had in elation twitted after he received the attestation in the following words: “As a Nigerian military officer, it would have been impossible for me to have attended the Defence Services Staff College in India in 1973, and, after that – in 1979 – the United States Army War College, had I not sat for the WASC examinations, which I did in 1961.
“The late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was my classmate. We spent close to nine years in boarding school, at primary and secondary levels. And from there, after our WASC, we moved to join the Army, where we had to take a military examination as one of the requirements.”
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