Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in
Abuja on Monday fixed February 14 to hear the suit filed to challenge President
Muhammadu Buhari’s academic qualifications.
The suit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the
Civil Society Observatory for Constitutional and Legal Compliance (CSOCLC) has
other defendants as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and
All Progressives Congress (APC).
When the case was called yesterday, counsel to the
plaintiffs, Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, informed the court that the matter was
ripe for hearing as all the defendants had been served with the originating
summons last year but had all failed to file any defence to the action or any
other process even as they were now out of time.
He informed the court that counsel to INEC, Mr.
Hassan Umar, called him some days ago to confirm the date and was surprised
that he was not in court.
Counsel to the APC, Mr. Temitayo Lasaki, informed
the court that though they were out of time, they would file their processes by
February 5.
Counsel to President Buhari, Mr. Abdul Mohammed
Rafindadi, informed the court that he too was doing everything possible and
working hard to complete and file a defence to the action and promised to do so
before next Wednesday.
The plaintiffs’ counsel, Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, told the
court that he was ready to file his reply to any process served on him by
defendants within a matter of hours.
The court ordered all the parties to file and
exchange all processes in the matter before end of the week and adjourned the
case for definite hearing of the originating summons and any other application
if need be.
The plaintiffs in the substantive suit are praying
the court to disqualify President Buhari for lying under oath contrary to
Section 31 of the Electoral Act when he claimed that all his educational
qualification documents are with the Secretary to the Military Board.
The plaintiffs claimed that there is nothing like ‘Military
Board’ or ‘Secretary to Military Board’ in Nigeria and that that false claim
disqualified the president pursuant to the Electoral Act.
The plaintiffs also claim that having not included
any document whatsoever or at all, showing any educational qualification, apart
from his voter’s card and APC party card, the president did not offer any proof
to INEC that he meets any of the qualifications listed in the constitution or
their equivalent.
The group contended that other presidential
candidates, Professor Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP);
John Wilson Gbor of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili of the
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) and Mr. Donald Duke of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP), all exhibited their academic qualifications except
President Buhari.
It added that unlike President Buhari, Gbor, who is
also a retired Army General, attached all his educational qualification
documents submitted to INEC, including a
Ph.D. certificate from Indiana University in United States, Master of
Arts certificate from Indiana University, US, Master of Science in Education
certificate from Indiana University, US; Bachelor of Arts (History) from Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria; University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
General Certificate of Education (GCE) sat at Government College in Keffi; West
African Examinations Council Secondary School Certificate, Certificate of
Primary Education (FSLC) of Benue State in Nigeria among other documents.
According to the Observatory, the president,
instead of adducing proof that he has the requisite constitutional educational
qualifications, attached an affidavit deposed to by him four years ago on
November 24, 2014, wherein he averred that: “All my academic qualifications
documents as filled in my presidential form, President APC/001/2015 are
currently with the secretary of military board as of the time of this
affidavit.
The plaintiff also argued that in his affidavit in
support of personal particulars, the president claimed to have obtained his
Primary School Certificate in 1952 while in his Curriculum Vitae attached to
his said affidavit, the president claimed to have attended Elementary School in
Daura and Mai Aduwa between 1948 in 1952, a period of four years.
It then asked the court to take judicial notice of
the fact that elementary or primary school takes a minimum of six years before
FSLC can be awarded and that it means the president either never attended or
never completed six years of elementary/primary education which accounts for
why he has no FSLC and thus unable to meet the requirements of Section 131 (d)
of the 1999 Constitution.
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