I was on my way to work on the morning of
Monday, January 26, when my friend, Sodiq
Alabi, sent me a Facebook message asking me
how to contact THISDAY newspapers since I am
more familiar with newspaper houses as a
regular contributor to issues in national dailies.
Sodiq included in the message a web link to an
article in THISDAY newspaper with the title,
“Cambridge University: Hausa Language Not
Offered in 1961 Exams”. I opened the article to
see these lines:
“The controversy over the secondary school
results of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
presidential candidate, General Muhammadu
Buhari, continues as the University of Cambridge
has said that Hausa Language, which is one of
the subjects listed by Buhari, was not offered in
its examinations in 1961.
“The disclosure was contained in a statement
from the office of the Director of the PDP
Presidential Campaign Organisation claiming it
came through an e-mail dated Thursday, January
22, 2015 from the institution’s Archives Delivery
Service Officer, Jacky Emerson, to one SODIQ
ALABI who requested for confirmation if the
examination body offered Hausa Language in the
1961 West African Certificate Examination it
organised.
“Emerson, in his one-sentence reply, said:
“According to the Regulations for 1961, African
Language papers, including those for Hausa,
WERE NOT included for West African School
Certificate.”
“This development may have further cast doubts
on the certificate which is purported to be
General Buhari’s. He is yet to react to the
assertion by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Presidential Campaign Organisation that the
document (the published certificate) was forged
and illegally procured.” (Capitalizations mine)
Sodiq was shocked such falsehood was
attributed to him by Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode and
wanted to contact the Editor of THISDAY for such
wicked misrepresentation. Sodiq Alabi
( sodiqalabi@hotmail.com ) had written an email
to Cambridge Assessment, the brand name of
University of Cambridge Local Examinations
Syndicates, on January 22, 2015, 13.31 hours, to
confirm whether Hausa was truly offered by it in
1961 examinations. By 4.10pm same day, Jacky
Emerson
(archives@cambridgeassessment.org.uk), Archive
Services Delivery officer of Cambridge
Assessment, replied thus: “Dear Sodiq Alabi,
According to the Regulations of 1961, African
Language papers, WERE SET for West Africa
School Certificate.”
A screenshot of this email exchange was shared
with us on Facebook by Sodiq and it went viral
on the internet. The email triggered other
Nigerians to send emails to Cambridge
Assessment for independent confirmation and the
school came out with a release on its website the
next day. In the release titled, “Statement in
response to Nigerian Presidential election
enquiries”, the school stated, “The organisation
also confirmed that according to the Regulations
for 1961, African Language papers, including
those for Hausa WERE SET for the West African
School Certificate.” Here is the link to the
Cambridge Assessment website where this
confirmation was published: http://
cambridgeassessment.org.uk/news/statement-
in-response-to-nigerian-presidential-election-
enquiries/.
It is however surprising that Femi Fani-Kayode
went ahead to alter the content of Sodiq’s email
in his press statement to, “According to the
Regulations for 1961, African Language papers,
including those for Hausa, WERE NOT included
for West African School Certificate.”, and still
quoted the email as the source.
It is very unfortunate that this is the man
speaking for the President’s re-election
campaign. How do we believe every other “fact”
he has quoted has not been altered as well? It is
a shame.
It is also very unfortunate that our newspapers
have gone to sleep and investigative journalism
is at its lowest ebb in Nigeria. How will Femi
Fani-Kayode not be feeding newspaper reporters
with lies when he knows how lazy some of our
journalists have become? This is not an
advertorial that does not require independent
confirmation. All THISDAY and Daily Post that
reported this Fani-Kayode’s glaring lie needed to
do is to seek out Sodiq or confirm from
Cambridge – which had posted a confirmation
statement on conduct of Hausa language in 1961
WASC on its website since January 23, two days
before Fani-Kayode came up with this lie – and
ask for their side of the story.
It is particularly curious that I had, in an earlier
article sent to THISDAY, which was published in
its January 25 edition, attached a screenshot of
the email from Sodiq to buttress some other
arguments, so THISDAY editors, at least their
OP-ED editor, could not have claimed not to have
seen the original content of Sodiq’s email before
Fani-Kayode’s alteration.
This is not the first time President Jonathan’s
men are forging or altering documents to
demonize anyone perceived as the President’s
“enemy”. His New Media Assistant, Reno Omokri,
was also busted in February last year, when he
hid under a pseudonym, Wendel Simlin, to send
false but damaging reports to newspapers to
demonize the then just suspended Governor
Lamido Sanusi of Central Bank. A dig into the
source of the computer used in typing the
document showed it was a certain Reno Omokri
that authored it!
How lowly can people get?
Oyewale, a chartered accountant and blogger,
lives in Ajah, Lagos. He can be reached at
oyewalesuraj@gmail.com

GEJ is the Man.
certificate or no certificate.
we want continuity no change!
Please cast your Vote wisely.
PDP is the ruling party.

Hmmnnn!

Typical of the pdp.

#change
#GMB
#APC