The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday observed that public demonstrations that the Presidency may have procured a forged West African Examination Council (WAEC) Certificate Attestation and Confirmation for President Muhammadu Buhari is a huge smear on our nation\u2019s integrity and the Office of the President.
\nIn a statement issued by Kola Ologbondiyan, the National Publicity Secretary of the party in Abuja, the party lamented that the development has turned the nation into \u201ca laughing stock in the West African sub-region and the entire global community, as our President is now being mentioned as a beneficiary of a duplicitous act.\u201d
\nThe PDP added: \u201cMost appalling is that Mr President\u2019s handlers have succeeded in dragging a reputable institution as WAEC into public disrepute and opprobrium, as Nigerians are quick to demonstrate marks of forgery in the attestation issued by the examination body.
\n\u201cA check on the attestation clearly shows that it does not have the \u2018Original Certificate Number,\u2019 the key authentication feature in all genuine attestations by WAEC. Instead, a \u2018non-applicable\u2019 is entered, indicating that the beneficiary does not have a certificate to be attested to, thus rendering the said attestation unauthenticated, fake and of no effect.
\n\u201cAlso, the attestation is for West African Senior School Certificate, which President Buhari couldn\u2019t have sat for, given that the Senior School Certificate Examination was established only in the late 1980s.
\n\u201cDoes it not smack of a high-level scam that the same WAEC, which, in 2015, confirmed that it does not have records of President Buhari\u2019s certificate, now had to send officials to present Mr President with an attestation, that has no original certificate number?
\n\u201cMoreover, by WAEC rules, attestations are only issued in the case of missing or destroyed certificate. Why then should the exam body issue an attestation to President Buhari, whose certificate, he claimed is with the military and not missing or destroyed?
\n\u201cIf not intended to circumvent the system and deceive Nigerians, why did President Buhari\u2019s handlers chose to write to WAEC to issue an attestation when he, as the Commander-in-Chief, has the powers to direct the military to make available his credentials for all to see.
\n\u201cWhat the unauthenticated attestation has shown is that Mr President does not have a WAEC certificate; we urge his handlers to humbly so admit and apologise to the nation, having exhausted all gimmicks to mislead Nigerians.\u201d
\nThe PDP stressed that the Buhari Presidency should know that there is no way the truth can be suppressed adding: \u201cIn fact, the current disagreement between the Presidency and WAEC over who initiated the attestation deal is also very revealing.\u201d
\nThe PDP, therefore, urged WAEC to redeem its image by handing over all its officials involved in the deal to the INTERPOL for investigation and prosecution.
\nIt also called on the Nigeria Police to immediately invite Mr President\u2019s handlers for questioning over this huge national embarrassment, declaring: \u201cEnough is Enough!\u201d
\nMeanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will this week, deploy its Contact and Integration Committee to some states in the federation recently hit by crisis arising from party primaries.
\nThe committee chaired by former Cross River state governor, Senator Liyel Imoke is set to meet with some disgruntled members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Imo, Zamfara and Ogun states which governors are currently locked in a battle with the leadership of the party.
\nAlthough Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) are not expected to defect to another party before the elections, there are indications that many aggrieved members in the affected states may jump ship to protest their alleged maltreatment in the primaries. Speaking with Vanguard yesterday, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan said apart from the mentioned states; the PDP will interface with \u201cthese people\u201d across the federation before the elections.
\nOlogbondiyan added that the trouble in the ruling party is a fallout of the failure to practice internal democracy, noting that the National Working Committee, NWC, of the PDP will provide accommodation for all Nigerians \u201cdesirous of taking this nation to the next level.\u201d
\nHe said: \u201cOur Committee (Contact and Integration) is reaching out to these people and I can assure Nigerians that we will provide accommodation for all of them in our rebranded platform.
\n\u201cAPC has nothing to offer Nigerians and that has been made glaring with the controversial congresses and primaries they conducted. We want these people to come on board so that together, we will rescue Nigerians from the pain the APC has caused us since they assumed office in 2015.\u201d
\nThe party\u2019s decision to reach out to the aggrieved members of the APC may not be unconnected with remarks made by Governor Okorocha recently to the effect that the ruling party may lose as much as five million votes to the opposition in the event of failure to resolve the crises rocking the party.
\nAlso, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has received thousands of former members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who have now joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
\nSaraki revealed this via his verified Twitter page on Sunday night.
\n\u201cToday in Kwara, I was delighted to receive thousands of former APC members as they defected to the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP).
\n\u201cAs we move forward together, our great party will continue to work to provide more opportunities and development for our state and the entire nation,\u201d he wrote.
\nSaraki himself dumped the ruling party for PDP in July this year.
\nThe Senate President later contested the presidential primaries, where he lost out to former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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