Buhari Certificate: PDP won’t like Cambridge explanation

The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate has said it can only release the certificate of President Muhammadu Buhari if he requests for it.

The body was acting in accordance to the General Data Protection Regulations, Data Protection Act 2018 and section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The opposition and many Nigerians have raised a groundswell of criticism since WAEC presented Buhari an attestation of his certificate he claimed the military lost.

But the UK exam body, now known as Cambridge Assessment, in a statement yesterday, said it was responding to inquiries by Nigerians interested in authenticating Buhari’s certificate.

Cambridge supervised the conduct of final year secondary school examination in Nigeria and placement into foreign universities in the 1960s.

The critics faulted Buhari’s grades in Hausa and Mathematics. But the body confirmed that according to the regulations for 1961, African language papers, including those for Hausa, were set for the West African School Certificate.

It also stated it was not compulsory to pass mathematics to get the certificate.

“We can only confirm or verify results at the direct request of or with the permission of a candidate.

“Examination results were classed in grades by 1 to 9. 1,2,3,4,5 & 6 indicate a pass with Credit; 7 & 8 indicate a Pass; 9 indicates a Failure.

“To pass the School Certificate, candidates had to pass examinations in a variety of groups. It was compulsory to pass English Language, but not Maths, in order to gain the Certificate.
The number of candidates who sat for the WASC Hausa examination in 1961 was 152. Our records show that Hausa was set in the Northern Region in 1961,’’ the statement read.

Before now, the PDP in a statement by the its spokesman,Kola Ologbondiyan, said the Presidency displayed the highest form of corruption and decadence by getting involved in “manipulations, forgery and lies” in an attempt to hoodwink Nigerians with bogus claims.

“Nothing is more humiliating to our nation than having our Presidency entangled in high-level of international corruption involving the name and personality of the President, the latest being the procuring and parading of fake WAEC certificate attestation,” he said.

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There were even indications the party was ready to ship in experts to investigate the matter, according to Buhari Campaign Organisations spokesman Festus Keyamo