WAEC disagrees with Presidency, says Buhari applied for results

We would not have given him the document if he didn’t apply. It
is only Buhari or a court that can ask for the results. There is no
other person. So he asked for it –WAEC. Punch reports.

No, the President did not apply for the documents. I made this
clear in an opinion I wrote on Friday. The presentation of the
documents to the President was strictly an initiative of WAEC
–Shehu.

The Presidency and the West African Examinations Council, on
Saturday, disagreed on the reason for the issuance of an
Attestation of Results to President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.

While the Presidency insisted that Buhari didn’t apply for the
results of the West African School Certificate Examination, which
he claimed to have sat for in 1961, the examination body said the
document was issued because the President applied for it.

WAEC’s spokesman, Damianus Ojijeogu, stated this in an interview
with our correspondent on Saturday.

Ojijeogu, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, said, “We would not
have given him the document if he didn’t apply. It is only Buhari
or a court that can ask for the results. There is no other person.
So he asked for it.”

Also, WAEC said in issuing an Attestation of Results to replace
a lost or missing WAEC certificate, the subjects, where the
candidate had F9, would no longer be captured.

WAEC Nigeria said these on its Twitter handle, @waecnigeria, on
Saturday, while answering questions from several Nigerians on the
omission of F9 from Buhari’s attestation.

“That is WAEC Twitter handle. It is correct,” Ojijeogu added,
confirming the authenticity of the post on the handle.

The documents were presented to the President at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, during a courtesy visit by a delegation
of WAEC led by its Registrar, Dr. Iyi Uwadiae.

Uwadiae was accompanied by the Head, National Office, WAEC,
Olutise Adenipekun; Head, Public Affairs, WAEC, Abiodun Aduloju;
and the Zonal Coordinator, WAEC Abuja, Olufemi Oke.

Buhari received the documents amidst the controversy generated
over his claim in his details presented to the Independent National
Electoral Commission that his credentials were with the Military
Board.

The board had subsequently declared the President’s certificate
missing, hence the need for him to get an attestation and a
confirmation.

Earlier on its Twitter handle on Saturday, the examination body
had stated, “You cannot apply for Attestation of Results or any
other document if you have not registered and sat for the
examination.

“The documents for application are a letter of application,
police report on lost or damaged certificate, photocopy of lost or
damaged certificate, two recent passport-sized photographs of the
candidate, sworn affidavit for collection of attestation of results
and administrative fee of N20,000.”

But the Presidency, which spoke through Buhari’s Senior Special
Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the initiative
to make the documents available to the President was that of the
examination body.

Shehu, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday, said WAEC
authorities made it clear that they read about the controversy
generated by the President’s missing certificate and saw the need
to save the council’s integrity.

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The presidential spokesman added, “No, the President did not
apply for the documents. I made this clear in an opinion I wrote on
Friday.

“The presentation of the documents to the President was strictly
an initiative of WAEC.

“They said they read about the controversy on the pages of
newspapers and saw the need to save the integrity of the
council.”

Shehu had, in an opinion, titled ‘President Buhari, WAEC and
PDP’s toxic air’, on Friday, quoted the examination body as saying
that the controversy concerning Buhari’s school certificate was
embarrassing and felt a sense of duty to produce and deliver the
documents to him.

He had said, “This is a god-send, with WAEC being a
non-political entity. This should put to rest the absurd
allegations by the Peoples Democratic Party, brought up again and
again, that he (Buhari) did not attend a secondary school.”

WAEC said the controversy surrounding the President’s picture
was due to a guideline that the council used the photograph of the
applicant for the attestation and not the pupil’s picture as of the
time of sitting for the examination.

WAEC also said it did not issue the attestation of results to
Buhari in 2015 because there was no application for it.

It said, “WAEC does not record fail in certificates. He (Buhari)
did not apply for it in 2015. In August 2015, the council
introduced Attestation of Results that can be obtained on request
and that can serve as a replacement for lost or missing
certificates.

“It should be the passport photo he (Buhari) submitted during
the application for Attestation of Results. Attestation of Results
carries passport of the candidate’s application when he or she
applied. Candidates were first issued Attestation of Results by
WAEC Nigeria in 2015.

“What we presented to President Buhari on Friday was a
Statement/Attestation of Results and not a certificate. Subjects
that a candidate had F9s in are no longer captured in certificates
or Attestation of Results.”