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| Atiku Abubakar |
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar have accused President Muhammadu Buhari of making false claims about his academic qualifications.
The PDP and Atiku argued that Buhari’s claim, in his response to the petition they filed at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), that he (Buhari) was more qualified than Atiku, was also a false assertion.
They noted that unlike Atiku, Buhari failed to exhibit his credentials, which he claimed to possess.
The PDP and Atiku raised these issues in their reply to Buhari’s response. They are before the PEPT to challenge the outcome of the last presidential election, which Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), won.
In the reply filed on April 15 this year, by their team of lawyers, led by Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), the PDP and Atiku argued that, having failed to attach the credentials to the Form CF001, which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), one could safely conclude that Buhari lied that his certificates were with the Nigerian Army.
They challenged Buhari to, as the incumbent President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, direct the Nigerian Army, where he once served, to make his credentials public, if indeed, they actually exist.
The PDP and Atiku added: “In further response to paragraph 381(iv) of the 2nd respondent’s reply, aver that the petitioners have no knowledge of any certificates or alleged qualifications issued to the 2nd respondent (Buhari), but contend that 2nd respondent falsely represented that his certificates are in the custody of the Nigerian Army when the 2nd respondent, by his own admission, is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“In further response to Paragraph 381(iv) of the 2nd respondent’s reply, the petitioners aver that the 2nd respondent as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria could easily order the Army Secretary to produce the certificates allegedly submitted if they actually exist.
“Contrary to paragraph 381(i-iv) of the 2nd respondent’s reply, the petitioners aver that the 2nd respondent does not posses the educational qualification he claimed to have in his INEC Form CF001 submitted to the 1st respondent (INEC) having not been attached as required.
“In reply to the paragraph 383 of the 2nd respondent’s reply, the petitioners aver that the 1st petitioner (Atiku) is eminently qualified to contest election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and had indeed attached evidence of his educational qualifications to his INEC Form CF001 submitted to the 1st respondent, unlike the 2nd respondent (Buhari) who did not attach evidence of the qualifications he claimed in his INEC Form CF001 because he does not possess them as he falsely claimed.”
They argued that “the purported training and courses” which Buhari had claimed placed him “head and shoulders” above Atiku in respect to educational qualification to contest the presidential election, “did not culminate in the issuance of any certificates he claimed in his INEC Form CF001.”
The PDP and Atiku described Buhari’s claim of being head and shoulders above Atiku, in qualification and experience, as erroneous.
