One of President Muhammadu Buhari’s witnesses at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal and his Chief of Staff to Buhari, Alhaji Abba Kyari, on Tuesday said he only signed and collected the President’s Cambridge assessment 12 days ago.
Kyari, who claimed to have known Buhari for nearly 40 years, told the Tribunal that the President has credit in five subjects, including English Language, in his West African School Certificate examination conducted by Cambridge University.
But under cross examination by the lead counsel of the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate for the election, Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), Kyari told the tribunal that he personally received and signed for Buhari’s Cambridge University assessment on July 18, 2019.
The witness further admitted that Buhari in his Curriculum Vitae listed the schools he attended but did not list any of the certificates obtained.
He also admitted not being Buhari’s classmate at any time and never a member of the Army, adding that he was not in possession of any of Buhari’s certificates.
Further cross examined by Uzoukwu, Kyari admitted that the Diploma Certificate in Strategic Studies he claimed Buhari possessed in his witness’s statement was not listed in Buhari’s CV.
While he told the tribunal that Abubakar was a Cameroonian by birth, he however admitted he never knew or met the father and grandfather of the PDP presidential candidate.
Another witness, Sule Mai’Adua a retired Civil Servant, admitted that he attended the same secondary school with Buhari and that he took photograph with him while they were in class 6.
Mai’Adua also told the tribunal that he wrote WASC examination in 1961 with Buhari and that he (Buhari) has two certificates.
When asked to read the Army’s statement that Buhari’s certificates were not in his personal file with the military, the witness said he was never in the Army and does not know the position of the Army, but insisted that Buhari has two certificates.
Earlier, Buhari, through his lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), had tendered series of documents, including newspaper publications, receipts and certified true copies of WASC certificate, confidential result sheet from Provincial Secondary School and copy of his CV duly signed by him as exhibits.
Although, both the Independent National Electoral Commission and the All Progressives Congress did not object to the admissibility of the documents, Abubakar and the PDP registered their opposition to the admissibility of the documents, but reserved reasons to the objection till the final address stage.
According to them, the documents were not pleaded and listed as documents to be tendered, adding that it was shocking to know that the documents were only filed on Tuesday.
In an interview with journalists shortly after the day’s proceedings, Uzoukwu said Buhari himself had confirmed the petitioners’ position that he has no certificate.
Uzoukwu said it is an irony for Kyari to have claimed that he received and signed for Buhari’s WASC Certificate of 1961 on July 18, 2019, adding that no institution in the world allows a third party to collect certificate on behalf of another person.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
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