The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned that those who are bent on<\/p>\n
destroying its Presidential Candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on the
\nbasis of his certificates may end up destroying the country\u2019s military.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity
\nSecretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party warned that the PDP and the
\nJonathan Administration are playing a dangerous game by trying to
\ncompromise the military in order to satisfy selfish political objectives,
\nand urged the military, as a symbol of national unity, to beware of those
\nwho may be seeking to use it to achieve selfish and divise ends.<\/p>\n
It said the statement credited to the Nigerian Army Director, Army Public
\nRelations, Brig-Gen. Olajide Olaleye, at a press conference in Abuja on
\nTuesday, that the Army is not in possession of Gen. Buhari\u2019s certificates,
\nis in direct conflict with what he said on Jan. 4th 2015 on the same
\nissue.<\/p>\n
\u201dIn an interview with the Punch on Jan. 4th 2015, Brig.-Gen. Olaleye said:
\n\u2018Every serving and retired Army officer has at least a copy of his
\ncertficates and credentials kept in the Nigerian Army while that same
\nserving and retired officer has copies of those same certificates and
\ncredentials\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201dIs Brig.-Gen. Olaleye now saying that he did not make that statement? If
\nhe did, what has happened between then and now to make him to recant? It
\nwill be interesting to know what has transpired between then and now,\u201d APC
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
But more worrisome, the party said, is the statement credited to
\nBrig.-Gen. Olaleye that there was no evidence that the certificates of all
\nthose who joined the army in the early 1960s were verified by the
\nselection board.<\/p>\n
\u201dIs he now saying that all those who were commissioned into the officer
\ncadres in the 1960s did not have their certificates verified? Does this
\nnot confirm what we said that in trying to destroy Gen. Buhari, the PDP
\nand the Jonathan Administration will end up destroying the army as an
\ninstitution? Or is it only Gen. Buhari that was commissioned into the army
\nin the 1960s,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The party also quoted Gen. Buhari as saying in an affidavit on 24\/11\/2014
\nthat \u201dAll my academic qualifications documents as filled in my
\npresidential form, President APC\/001\/2015 are currently with the Secretary
\nMilitary Board as at the time of this affidavit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dThose who are behind the latest controversy should now tell Nigerians
\nwhat happened to Gen. Buhari\u2019s certificates between the time of his
\naffidavit and now,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
APC said in any case, even if the Army now says it does not have the
\ncertificates of Gen. Buhari, he is still very qualified to run for the
\ncountry\u2019s highest office, as stipulated by the Constitution of the Federal
\nRepublic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The party quoted Section 131 (d) of the Constitution: \u201dA person shall be
\nqualified for election to the office of President if he has been educated
\nup to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent\u201d<\/p>\n
APC said the meaning and interpretation of \u201dSchool Certificate level or
\nits equivalent can be found in the Constitution under part IV, Section
\n318. In that Section, a \u201dSchool Certificate or ot equivalent\u201d is defined
\nquite succinctly thus:<\/p>\n
(a) A Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, Grade II Teacher\u2019s
\nCertificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or<\/p>\n
(b) Education up to Secondary School Certificate Level; or<\/p>\n
(c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent.<\/p>\n
The party said since Brig.-Gen. Olaleye has now confirmed that Gen. Buhari
\nindeed applied to join the Army from form six, that the principal of the
\nschool he attended even attested to his suitability, and that the form he
\nfilled contained his Secondary School Certificate results, there is no
\nscintilla of doubt about his qualification to run for president as
\nstipulated by the Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201dHowever, we know that the PDP and the Jonathan Administration have
\nconstituted themselves into a court of law and will like nothing more than
\nthe disqualification of our candidate so they will face no challenge in
\nnext month\u2019s election. This is wishful thinking,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
APC said the PDP and the Jonathan Administration should expend their
\nenergy on how to revive their floundering campaign instead of seeking the
\ndisqualification of its (APC) candidate.<\/p>\n
On the contradictions in the statements credited to the Army spokesman,
\nthe party said: \u201dIt is true that our once globally-respected military has
\nnow been made comatose by the PDP-led Federal Government, but we believe
\nthings have not reached the level where the same military will be engaging
\nin actions that amount to self destruction, just to satisfy some political
\ninterests.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe believe things have not reached a level where we, as a nation, will
\nnow be giving the impression that a man who rose to become a Major-General
\nin the Nigerian Army does not have requisite qualifications?<\/p>\n
\u201dWhat really is happening in our country if some politicians have now
\ndecided to engage in an action that will amount to dragging the military
\ninto politics, dividing an institution that is a symbol of national unity,
\ntrivializing the service of those who fought to keep Nigeria one and
\nridiculing the same country it is supposed to be ruling?<\/p>\n
\u201dWe have said it before and will like to repeat: Enough is enough about
\nthis distraction orchestrated by the PDP and the Jonathan Administration
\nwhose electioneering campaign for next month\u2019s polls has suffered a train
\nwreck,\u201d the party said<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned that those who are bent on destroying its Presidential Candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on the basis of his certificates may end up destroying…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n