Certificate controversy: Why we cleared Buhari –Onu

Chairman of Presidential Screening Committee of All Progres­
sives Congress (APC), Ogbonnaya Onu has explained why the
committee cleared General Muhammadu Buhari for party’s
primary.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, Onu submitted that
Buhari was cleared strictly on the provisions of the 1999
Constitution (as amended).
He declared that the affidavit produced by Buhari during the
screening exercise provided every conviction needed to clear
him.
The former national chairman declared that the person of
Buhari, who had hitherto attended many military institutions
both at home and abroad before rising to the pinnacle of his
career in the Nigeria Army, could not have done so without
passing his examinations at primary school level.
Lambasting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the
controversy generated by the issue of the certificate, Onu
wondered why the certificate had suddenly been made an
issue even when Buhari had contested previous elections
without hitches.
He said: “Really that issue should not create the kind of
problem that we are seeing today in the polity. When this
matter came before us in the presidential screening
committee, we had to rely on the constitution of our great
country to qualify anybody to be president of Nigeria. You
have to be a Nigerian by birth. He has to be 40 years of age.
He has to be a member of a political party and that political
party must sponsor you and finally should obtain education at
least up to secondary school level or equivalent.