Buhari’s ‘certificate saga is a dead issue’, only ‘idle people’ are complaining— Adesina

Spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina has dismissed the furore over the president’s missing secondary school certificate, branding those complaining as “idle”.

Since President Buhari claimed in an affidavit he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the flag bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 presidential election that his credentials were with the military, there have been impassioned reactions from across the country, a repeat of the 2015 episode.

But Adesina said the certificate issue was “dead”.

“The certificate saga is a dead issue, only idle people will consider it,” the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President said when contacted by The Nation on Saturday.

“It is something that had been laid to rest before the 2015 general elections,” he added.

“Those raising the issue (PDP and others) are idle and they have run out of ideas. They see defeat staring them in the face and they are desperate to cling to any straw. This issue was resolved before the 2015 election.”

Read also: 2019: Sanusi pleads with Nigerians not to elect uneducated leaders again

“It is a matter of fact that when President Buhari and others joined the military, they took their original certificates from them. The military knew where they kept the original certificates of the president.

“In fact, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, corroborated that the military collected the original certificates of all its officers. The PDP believes it is going to lose the elections, and they will lose, and it is raising dust over a dead issue.

“The military already said they lost the certificates. But does it mean that it did not exist that the president went to school, sat for examinations and passed; attended military courses and War College?

“It does not change the fact that the president rose through the ranks to become a Major-General in the Nigerian Army and a Military Head of State.

“Didn’t those opposed to President Buhari go to court over his certificate and lost before? They will still lose this time around. It is a dead issue,” Adesina said.

 

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