Certificate saga: Only Buhari can ask for result – Cambridge

As the controversy rages over General Muhammadu Buhari’s
secondary school certificate, the examination body, University
of Cambridge, has said that only he can request for his result.
Buhari is the presidential candicate of All Progressives Con­
gress (APC).
In its response to requests to authenticate Buhari’s certificate,
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
(UCLES), now known as Cambridge Assessment, yesterday
said: “We can only confirm or verify results at the direct
request of or with the permission of a candidate.”
It stated: “This is in accordance with the provisions of the
Data Protection Act 1998 and section 40 of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.”
The institution also said that, according to the regulations for
1961, African language papers, including Hausa, were set for
the West African School Certificate Examination.
Amid this saga, the Nigerian Army had, on Tuesday, revealed
that Buhari’s file did not contain original certificate or certified
true copy of his West African School Certificate (WASC).
According to the Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.
General Olajide Olaleye, when Buhari sought to join the army,
his school Principal at Provincial Secondary School, Katsina,
endorsed his application and also wrote a report, certifying
him suitable for military commission.
He had said: “His application was duly endorsed by the
principal of the school, who also wrote a report on him and
recommended him to be suitable for military commission. It is
a practice in the Nigerian Army that before candidates are
shortlisted for commissioning into the officer’s cadre of the
service, the Selection Board verifies the original copies of
credentials that are presented. However, there is no available
record to show that this process was followed in the 1960s.
“Nevertheless, the entry on the NA form 199 at the point of
documentation after commission as an officer indicated that
the former Head of State obtained the West African School
Certificate (WASC) in 1961 with credits in relevant subjects:
English Language, Geography, History, Health Science, Hausa
and a pass in English Literature. However, neither the original
copy, Certified True Copy (CTC) nor statement of results of
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari’s WASC result is in his
personal file.”
In the same vein, the authorities of Government College,
Katsina, where Gen Buhari said he sat for the school
certificate, on Wednesday, released his secondary school
statement of results.