Why we cleared Buhari to contest - APC Screening Chair Against the backdrop of the raging controversy over Buhari’s academic records, the head of the APC presidential screening panel, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, has explained why the party’s presidential candidate was cleared to vie for the office of president in the forthcoming February 14 election. Onu, who is one of the leaders of the party, told journalists in Abuja yesterday that members of the panel adhered strictly to the provisions of the constitution to clear Buhari. “Really, that issue shouldn’t create the kind of problem that we are seeing today in the polity. When this matter came before us in the presidential screening committee, we had to rely on the constitution of our great country. “To qualify to be president of Nigeria, you have to be a Nigerian by birth; you have to be 40 years of age; you have to be a member of a political party and that political party must be registered, should sponsor you and finally you should obtain education at least up to secondary school level or equivalent, and our presidential candidate has attended military schools in Nigeria, in India, in the United Kingdom (UK) and in the United States of America (USA). “And in America, he attended the US Army War College. So, there isn’t any reason whatsoever to create this type of problems that we now have in the polity,” Onu said. Asked if the panel actually demanded to see a copy of Buhari’s school certificate during the screening exercise, he said: “No, we demanded it but there was an affidavit and you know once you swear to an affidavit, that definitely gives you whatever protection in any matter, not just in this case. But the thing is that we were not doing this for the opposition – the PDP, we were doing it for Nigeria. This is a man who will be president of Nigeria and there is a supreme law, the constitution, that guided us and the issue of qualification is at least a school certificate. “So if there is evidence that somebody has attended military schools that are tertiary institutions up to the war college of the USA, I mean why should you really go on about school certificate and so on? So all those are in his file. So, I really don’t see why we should be thinking in this direction because the problems before the nation are enormous. We should be looking at how we can solve the problems of insecurity and unemployment,” he said.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 07:26:39 +0000
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