Ex-Jonathan minister reveals Mimiko as mastermind of Buhari’s WAEC certificate saga
Outgoing Ondo state governor Olusegun Mimiko has been accused of being the mastermind behind the infamous propaganda between 2014 and 2015 that President Muhammadu Buhari did not have a WAEC certificate.
Outgoing Ondo state governor Olusegun Mimiko has been accused of being behind President Buhari's WAEC certificate saga
Sahara Reporters quotes an unnamed senior minister under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan as claiming that Mimiko allegedly created the rumour which gained serious grounds during the campaigns in the run up to the 2015 general elections.
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Then a presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Buhari had been challenged by the Goodluck Jonathan campaign organisation to submit his senior secondary certificate as proof that he really attended high school.
The APC found the accusation embarrassing to a retired general who was a one-time head of state and even attended military college abroad but the Jonathan campaign persisted with the likes of Ekiti state governor Ayodele Fayose making daily demands on Buhari to present the document.
Eventually, President Buhari had to present his certificate from his secondary school to end the saga. This however did not stop some concerned Nigerians from charging President Buhari to court.
However, just recently, Alex Ajayi, who is a former registrar of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), opened up that he issued certificate to Muhammadu Buhari in the 60s.
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“I joined the West African Examination Council as a pioneer staff. I was the first substantive Nigerian Assistant Registrar. I took over the control of the examination from the University of Cambridge. I took examiners to Cambridge for training across 10 years and trained them in Nigeria.
“I had the opportunity of issuing WAEC certificates to three former Heads of State: Buhari, Abacha and Babangida in the 60s,” Ajayi said in a recent interview with The Punch.
Also, in an exclusive interview with NAIJ.com, a former aide to Jonathan revealed that he warned the former president not to allow his campaign organisation to toe the line of questioning President Buhari’s certificate because some Nigerians believed at the time that even of all he possessed was toilet paper, he was qualified for the job.