Femi Adesina, the former media aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, in his new book, ‘Working with Buhari: Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015 – 2023),’ has disclosed why Buhari did not release his West African Examination Council result to the public during his two presidential campaigns.
According to Adesina, Buhari said he intentionally withheld his West African School Certificate to let “those venting spleen on it” to “please themselves.” This was his response to the widespread criticism he faced for not submitting his educational certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2015 and 2019.
Buhari claimed that all his credentials were with the Secretary to the Military Board, but in November 2018, he received a Letter of Attestation from the West African Examination Council, as shown in a video shared by his aide, Bashir Ahmad, on his verified X handle.
In chapter 5 of the book, Buhari was quoted as saying that sometime in 2018, “I was going through a drawer some days ago, and saw copies of my certificate. I always had it, but refused to release it, so that those venting spleen on it could please themselves.”
Buhari also stated in the book that “it would have been impossible for me to attend the Defence Services Staff College, India (1973) and thereafter, United States Army War College, as a Nigerian military officer if I didn’t sit for the WASC examinations in 1961,”
He recalled that he and his colleague, Gen. Musa Yar’adua, went to primary, secondary and military schools together.
“My colleagues and I who spent close to nine years in boarding school both in primary and secondary, including Gen. Musa Yar’adua, when we intended to join the military, we had to take a military examination,” Buhari said.
He explained that “we were examined in three subjects, English, Mathematics and General Knowledge because English is the language for general instruction throughout the country because of our colonial heritage.
“Mathematics in the military was necessary, coupled with Geography. We were trained how to be dropped off in the bush, given only a pair of compass and since we’re not astronomers, you’ve to learn to find your way, calculate, using the Pythagoras Theorem and others to work out your position.”
Adesina’s book also exposed how Buhari refused to fire the controversial governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, over rumours of his presidential aspiration in the previous 2023 general election.
Additionally, Buhari said he favoured extraditing the leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, to stand trial in Nigeria instead of killing him.
Buhari said bringing Kanu back to Nigeria was a better choice than deploying resources to eliminate him.
