Certificate saga: Buhari not qualified to run –Jonathan’scampaign organisation

Barely 24 hours after General Muhammadu Buhari cleared air
on his certificate issues, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Presidential Campaign Organisation has stated that the All
Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate is not
qualified to run for presidency.
In a statement yesterday, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, director of
media and publicity of the campaign organisation, said since
Buhari had not tendered a copy of his school certificate, it
could be taken that he was not qualified to vie for the post of
president.
“As long as he cannot produce that secondary school
certificate, we believe that he is not qualified to run for the
Presidency of Nigeria. This is a matter of law and not
sentiment. Buhari, just like any other Nigerian, must be
compelled to abide by the law and he must prove his
eligibility for the presidential election by simply producing his
secondary school certificate,” Fani-Kayode said.
The campaign organisation dismissed Buhari’s position that
he had contested previous elections and that the issue of his
qualifications did not arise, saying the fact that he did not
produce his certificates in “2003, 2007 and 2011 does not
make it right,” adding: “The minimum that Nigerians require
from Buhari is the presentation of his secondary school
certificate, which enabled him to gain admission into the
Nigerian Military College in 1962 and on which basis he
became a commissioned officer of the Nigerian Army.”
On how the certificate saga started, it stated: “Had INEC not
complied with the Electoral Act this year, which requires that
they paste the academic credentials of all the presidential
candidates, Nigerians would have remained ignorant of the
fact that Buhari has probably, been submitting affidavits for
the past elections.”
The campaign team also said that Buhari’s school certificate
“forms the fulcrum for the subsequent courses that he
attended as he rose in the Army, including the U.S. War
College,” insisting: “Failure to produce that school certificate
implies that Buhari’s entire career in the Army was based on
falsehood, which cannot stand. This brings to question the
admission system/policy into the Army in the early 1960s.”
It wondered if the rules in admitting people into the army was
bent in favour of Buhari, saying: “We believe that Buhari was
one of those people and this is why he is unable to produce
his certificate.”
It therefore concluded: “The truth is that he was never
qualified for entry into the Military Academy in the first place
and consequently he should never have become a
commissioned officer let alone a man that rose to the rank of
General. At best he ought to have remained a non-
commissioned officer.”