Barely a month to Nigeria’s presidential election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to go to court over the controversy surrounding the educational qualifications of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd), ThisDay reports.
INEC who gave the advice on Sunday in a reaction to the claims of complicity levelled against it by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign spokesman, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode on the subject matter.
The electoral commission stressed that it has no powers to disqualify any candidate sent to it by the political parties, noting that if the ruling party feels so strongly about the matter, “it knows what to do.”
INEC’s Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Wale Uzzi, and its Director, Legal Services, Mr. Ibrahim Bawa, who spoke on the issue yesterday, reiterated that the commission has no constitutional power to disqualify any candidate presented to it by the political parties.
“In line with Section 31 of the Electoral Act, the commission has no powers to disqualify any candidate whose name has been submitted to INEC.This is the power of the law and it is expected that a political party in the calibre of the PDP should know this aspect of the provision of the law. If the PDP feels strongly about this matter, it knows what to do. It should take him to court and that is the only option. If any political party is aggrieved and is serious about it, the only option available is the court,” Uzzi said.
According to him, Buhari had complied with the provisions of the constitution and Electoral Act because he had provided the commission with an affidavit to prove that he has the necessary qualifications to contest the presidential election.
“It is not necessary to provide certificates but provide evidence that show that he is educated,” he said.
Bawa, who substantiated his colleague’s assertion’s said: “The law states that the candidate must be educated to a certain level and once you have sworn to an affidavit that you have the necessary educational qualifications that serve it. It is the responsibility of the PDP to accept it or exercise the option of going to court. It is only the courts that can direct the commission otherwise. This is what the Electoral Act states in Section 31 of the amended act that INEC has no powers to disqualify any candidate presented by any political party. This is the position of the law.”
Bawa also revealed that some civil society organisations had already requested INEC to provide them with the certified true copy of the academic qualifications presented by Buhari, a request he said INEC had already obliged to.
Meanwhile, in an email written on January 8, 2015, from the Public Affairs Officer of the US Army War College, Col. Kerr Carol, to INEC, confirmed that a “Nigerian, Col. Muhammadu Buhari was a graduate of the US Army War College Class of 1980 and earned a US Army War College Diploma.”
Carol also confirmed that the Army War College first awarded master’s degrees to the Class of 2000.
Meanwhile, a socio-political pressure group, the Leadership and Accountability Initiative, has petitioned the Secretary of Nigeria Military Board and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a reaction to the certificate scandal of the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Retd).
