An obvious discrepancy has been observed in the results of the school certificate examination of President Muhammadu Buhari released in 2015 and the results in an “attestation certificate” issued to the president by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) on Friday.
The president’s school certificate examination, which was a major controversy in the build-up to the 2015 elections, recently became a matter of public discourse after Mr Buhari told the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that his school certificate is still with military authorities.
Mr Buhari stated this while submitting essential forms to INEC for the 2019 elections, which he would be participating in as the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The president’s claim immediately drew another round of intense criticism from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and many Nigerians who expressed doubt that Mr Buhari took the examination.
However, on Friday evening, the president Tweeted via his official handle that he had received the attestation and confirmation of his result.
“Today I received the attestation and confirmation of my 1961 West African School Certificate (WASC) Examination result, from the Registrar of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). It was also an opportunity for me to thank WAEC for upholding its integrity over the years,” he wrote.
“As a Nigerian military officer, it would have been impossible for me to have attended the Defence Services Staff College in India in 1973, and, after that – in 1979 – the United States Army War College, had I not sat for the WASC examinations, which I did in 1961.
“The late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was my classmate. We spent close to nine years in boarding school, at primary and secondary levels. And from there, after our WASC, we moved to join the Army, where we had to take a military examination as one of the requirements,” he further explained.
The series of tweets about his result were accompanied by pictures showing the president holding a copy of the result presented to him by WAEC with a man that appears to be an official of the examination body, another of the picture showed passing the result among jubilant aides.
No Mathematics, No Woodwork
A close look at the results in the attestation certificate immediately revealed two discrepancies from the result released by his secondary school and obtained by PREMIUM TIMES IN 2015.
In the statement of results this newspaper obtained in 2015, stamped and signed by Principal of Government College Katsina, Buhari’s alma mata, the president scored four credits in English Language, Hausa Language, Geography, and health Science, respectively. He also scored a ‘Good’ in History but failed Mathematics and Wood Work with the lowest possible grades represented by F9.
However, in the attestation certificate released Friday, while other results remained the same as those in the statement of results obtained by this newspaper in 2015, the president’s score in Mathematics, and in Wood Work, was conspicuously missing.
It is not clear if WAEC deliberately omitted the two subjects the president failed in the “attestation certificate” given to him.
WAEC could not be reached for comments.
The president’s spokespersons, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, did not reply sms sent to their mobile phones for comments.
Premium Times
