Bucky Hassan Addresses
Buhari Certificate Questions that has been
Would Muhammadu Buhari, the
APC-chosen champion for the
presidential seat, release a
proof of his academic
qualifications
tampered with? This question
haunts the minds of many
Nigerians since the beginning
of the
“Buhari certificate”
controversy.
A number of Naij.com readers
have drawn our attention to the
article by Bucky Hassan, entitled
Question and Answer on Buhari’s
Certificate. Bucky Hassan is a
London, UK-based public policy
analyst writing for TheCable,
SkytrendNews and
USAfricaonline.com.
According to our findings, a pro-
Buhari community,
General
Muhammadu Buhari 2015 Support
Group Centre
, have reposted the above-
mentioned article to their official
Facebook account from another
Buhari supporter, Ibrahim Sanyi-
Sanyi. The article was
mentioned
by users of Nairaland forum and,
apparently, appears in its
full form
on SkytrendNews, and it seems to
contain explanations to many
aspects of the
“Buhari certificate”
controversy.
As posts fly about questioning the
validity of Buhari’s certificate, I’ve
compiled a few answers to some
of the most common questions/
statements.
It is a very serious accusation to
claim that the Buhari campaigners
will forge educational documents
and the Katsina Ministry of
Education, and Government
College Katsina will help them do
so. As anyone from the PDP, the
media or the public can
immediately approach these
organisations to ask for the
original documents, it makes no
sense for the APC to do that. If it
believes the documents to be a
forgery, the PDP can approach
the courts to compel WAEC to
release the original certificate to
the courts.
This reminds me of the Obama
birth certificate saga. There are
many people who still claim it is a
forgery!
1) Why are the dates on the
certificate stamped 2015, and
not 1961?
Answer: “The stamp and date
served as authentication that the
document was truly retrieved from
the records of that Secondary
School and it emanated from
there. And, it must bear the date it
was forwarded! And, Cambridge
University also sent a computer
print-out of the same certificate!
So, the certificate itself bears
1961, while the stamp of the
retrieving and forwarding
establishment bears the date the
retrieved document was
forwarded (i.e. today’s date). I am
a professional administrator.” –
Olasunkanmi Sukky Adeleke.
2) There was no Primary 6 in
Nigeria in the 1960’s. Why did
Buhari leave secondary school
at 18-19?
Answer: Please see this write-up
on Nigeria’s educational history
from pre- colonisation to date. In
the 1950s and at least the early
1960s, Nigerian children spent 6
years in primary school, and 7
years in secondary school.
“In the 1950s, Nigeria adopted the
British system called Form Six that
divided grades into six elementary
years, three junior secondary
years, two senior secondary
years, and a two-year university
preparation program. Those who
scored high on exit examinations
at the end of Form Six usually
were qualified to enter
universities.”
3) The Army said Buhari had a
pass in English but his
certificate shows a credit in
English.
Answer: The Army actually said
he had a pass in English literature
and a credit in the English
language. Many [people] heard
“pass in English literature” and
immediately jumped to the
conclusion the Army meant
English grammar.
This link
provides copies of the Army’s
letter and other documentation in
Buhari’s file.
4) If the certificate is false,
why is the Buhari campaign
confident enough to provide it
to the press?
Answer: The Buhari campaign
freely releasing this document to
the media is the strongest piece of
evidence that the documents are
real.
With all the information provided
on the documentation, anyone
can directly approach the
Cambridge exams board, WAEC,
the Katsina Education Ministry and
Government College Katsina, to
verify the information. With the
examination number given on the
certificate, it will be easy for those
organisations to respond quickly.
Please remember that this
certificate was released directly by
Katsina College who made a copy
available to Premium Times.
5) Why is his name spelled
Muhammadu Buhari, but is
Mohamed Buhari on the
certificate?
Answer: Nigerian names
commonly have many different
variations of spellings, and it is not
uncommon to find Nigerians with
different spelling variations of
their names on different
documents – certificates,
passports, birth certificates etc.
Some people will always insist on
spelling one’s name the way they
prefer even after seeing the
correct spelling written out!
6) As Katsina State was not
created until 1987, why is this
certificate on the letterhead of
the Katsina State Ministry of
Education?
Answer: Buhari’s secondary
school used to be known as
Provincial Secondary School,
Katsina, but is now called
Government College Katsina. It is
located in what used to be Katsina
Province but became Katsina
State in 1987. As Katsina College
is issuing a certified copy of
Buhari’s original documentation,
they have transcribed it upon the
official certificates used by the
State today. It is why the exam is
dated 1961 but it is stamped and
dated by the principal on
21/1/2015 – the date the school
reissued a copy of the certificate.
“1947: Ibadan province split from
Oyo; Katsina province formed
from parts of Sokoto and Zaria;
Rivers province split from Owerri.”
7) Why does the certificate
show a contemporary
photograph of Buhari today?
Answer: Buhari sat for the exams
of the Cambridge University West
African School Certificate – which
is the exam body that set the
exams at the time. Photographs
were not a requirement to be put
on the certificate. However,
WAEC now issues certificates
with the photograph of the
candidate. Thus to satisfy the
protocol of today, his current
photograph has to be on the
certificate.
Buhari has a credit in Hausa
language. Surely Hausa
language was not taught in
schools in 1961?
Answer: The educational system
in Northern and Southern Nigeria
in the Colonial era
was very
different. Hausa was the official
language of the Colonial
administration in Northern Nigeria.
Hausa was taught in colonial
schools all through the colonial
era.
“Hausa in the Twentieth Century:
an overview” by John Edward
Philips
is particularly instructive. Page 25
talks about Hausa being the
official language of the Colonial
government in Northern Nigeria.
9) Can any of Buhari’s
classmates verify he sat the
exams in 1961?
Answer: Coomassie (ex-Inspector
General of Police) and Justice
Abdullahi (former President Court
of Appeal of 10 years)
have both
confirmed they were Buhari’s
classmates and all sat the WAEC
examinations at the same time.

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