The Federal High
Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed the preliminary objections filed
by President Muhammadu Buhari in the case filed against him challenging
his competence to stand election into the office of the president of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria when he lacks the basic educational
qualifications set out in the constitution.
Justice Ademola Adeniyi on Thursday, May
26, 2016 dismissed the preliminary objections filed by President
Muhammadu Buhari in the case instituted against him, the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress
(APC) in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/110/2015 by an Abuja based Legal
Practitioner, Barrister Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe.
This development was received with shock
by the presidency as members of Buhari’s government had forgotten about
the existence of the court case.
The Trent learnt that
panic has hit Aso Rock as the court ruling took President Buhari and his
aides by surprise. The source says that this ruling has posed a big
distraction for government activities at the Presidential Villa.
“Nobody even knew the case was still on.
The story was not even reported in the mainstream media. No paper
carried the Thursday ruling. But I can tell you the Presidency is
rattled and seriously hoping that the case does not resurface again in
the public domain because of the huge embarrassment it could cause the
President. But more importantly, there are concerns about the safety of
the judge and the plaintiff,” a inside source disclosed to Signal, an online newspaper.
The Missing WAEC Certificate: A 2015 Campaign Issue
This case represents a weak spot for
President Buhari as it challenges his eligibility to hold the office of
the president. During the 2015 presidential campaigns it was discovered
that Buhari failed to present his secondary school certificate INEC as
required by law. Rather, the former military general submitted a sworn
affidavit claiming that his academic credentials were with the Nigerian
military.
The Nigerian Army issued a statement
saying that it was not in possession of Buhari’s certificate or that of
any other soldier. The institution explained that like any employer, it
only sights credentials and returns them to the employee. Following
intense pressure, the army later disclosed that Buhari never presented a
secondary school certificate when joining the military, rather he
presented a letter of recommendation from his school principal.
The, then ruling party, had called for
Buhari to step down from the race following the scandal which appeared
to end when Buhari, through Premium Times, presented a
statement of result from his secondary school in Katsina showing that he
obtained an F9 in mathematics. The rules of army require that a
commissioned officer must earn a pass in mathematics before admittance.
The issue of Buhari’s lack of a WAEC
certificate formed the basis for over 30 lawsuits around the country
during the 2015 elections. After the elections, former President
Goodluck Jonathan personally intervened in the cases, asking the
plaintiffs to withdraw their suits in the interest of peace.
One Courageous Lawyer, 20 SANs, and One Year Later
Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had in February 2015 filed an originating
summons at the Federal High Court, Abuja asking the court to disqualify
Buhari from contesting for the position of the president not having sat
for the Secondary School Certificate and also deposing to a false
affidavit about his educational qualifications contrary to the Electoral
Act.
Buhari and the APC instead of entering a
defence on the merits and exhibiting any educational certificates
obtained by Buhari, tried to frustrate the hearing of the case by filing
several objections to the competence of the action.
President Buhari reportedly retained
over twenty SANs led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, Chief Akin Olujinmi, Femi
Falana, etc., who for over one year now have failed to file any defence
for Buhari or APC but instead used every trick in the book to delay the
case.
But on Thursday, the Justice Ademola
Adeniyi in his ruling on the case, dismissed all applications by the
defendant as totally lacking in merit. He held that the suit filed by
Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe was competent and the service on Buhari and APC
was also competent.
He thereafter adjourned the case to the
16th day of June 2016 for hearing of the substantive originating Summons
to determine whether Buhari’s educational qualifications meets the
minimum standards required by the constitution.
According to reports, only the counsel
to INEC was in Court, the plaintiff was absent but wrote to the court
explaining that he received notice of the date for the ruling the
previous night and was out of town and could not make it. APC (2nd
Respondent) and Buhari (3rd Respondent) were absent, were not
represented and did not write to court.
The WAEC Certificate Still Remains Elusive
It will be recalled that there were
claims by online handlers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that
the Nigerian Army located President Buhari’s “missing certificate”
after the elections.
However, there is still no official
statement by the Nigerian Army up till this day corroborating claims
that the certificate has been found.
The new defence minister appointed by Buhari had derided the
leadership of the army during the election period for the certificate
saga, but still failed to produce the result. Human Rights groups have
demanded that the defence minister produced the president’s WAEC
certificate.
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