President Muhammadu Buhari has again failed to submit his academic credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of his bid to seek re-election in 2019.
All the aspirants seeking elective positions in the country ought to submit certain documents, including their academic credentials, to the commission.
However, Buhari, a retired Major General, told the electoral body that his credentials are still with the military and attached an affidavit to support his claim.
In the affidavit which he swore to, Buhari said, “I am the above named person and the deponent of this affidavit herein. All my academic qualification documents as filled in my Presidential form, APC/001/2015 are currently with the Secretary of the Military Board as of the time of this affidavit.”
It will be recalled that in 2014, the president had also tendered the same submission in the build up of the 2015 elections.
But the military had denied being in possession of the academic credentials.
Olajide Laleye, then Director of Army public relations, had said: “Records available indicate that Major General M Buhari applied to join the military as a Form Six student of the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina on 18 Oct 61.
“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 NA that before candidates are shortlisted for commissioning into the officers’ 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.”
The president had responded by saying the army’s position was mischievous.
Meanwhile, the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku submitted relevant documents, with a Diploma in Law in 1969 from the Ahmadu Bello University being his highest qualification.
The former vice-president also attached tax returns indicating that he had paid N10.8m in tax from 2015 to 2017 while declaring his income within the period as N60.2m.
