The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the onus is on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to go to court if it feels strongly about the controversy surrounding the certificates of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari.
INEC’s Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Wale Uzzi, and its Director, Legal Services, Mr. Ibrahim Bawa, who spoke in Abuja on Sunday, said the has no powers to disqualify any candidate sent to it by the political parties.
They were reacting to the claims of complicity levelled against it by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the controversy surrounding the educational qualifications of Buhari.
The PDP presidential campaign spokesman, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, had accused IEC of complicity for allowing Buhari to be fielded as a candidate of APC without the pre-requisite qualifications as enshrined in the constitution.
Uzzi said, “In line with Section 31 of the Electoral Act, the commission has no powers to disqualify any candidate whose name has been submitted to INEC.
“This is the power of the law and it is expected that a political party in the calibre of the PDP should know this aspect of the provision of the law.
“If the PDP feels strongly about this matter, it knows what to do. It should take him to court and that is the only option. If any political party is aggrieved and is serious about it, the only option available is the court.”
For him, Buhari has complied with the provisions of the constitution and Electoral Act because he had provided the commission with an affidavit to prove that he (Buhari) has the necessary qualifications to contest the presidential election.
“It is not necessary to provide certificates but provide evidence that show that he is educated,” he said.
Bawa, on his part, said, “The law states that the candidate must be educated to a certain level and once you have sworn to an affidavit that you have the necessary educational qualifications, that serves it.
“It is the responsibility of the PDP to accept it or exercise the option of going to court. It is only the courts that can direct the commission otherwise.
“This is what the Electoral Act states in Section 31 of the amended act that INEC has no powers to disqualify any candidate presented by any political party. This is the position of the law.”
He further disclosed that some civil society organisations had already applied to INEC for a certified true copy of the academic qualifications presented by General Buhari and that INEC had obliged them the request.
Also, an email written on January 8, 2015, from the Public Affairs Officer of the US Army War College, Col. Kerr Carol, to INEC has confirmed that a “Nigerian, Col. Muhammadu Buhari was a graduate of the US Army War College Class of 1980 and earned a US Army War College Diploma”.
It further clarified that the Army War College first awarded master’s degrees to the Class of 2000.
