WAEC Certificate:Lawyer Seeks Buhari Disqualification From Presidential Race In Court

The eligibility of President Muhammadu Buhari has been called to question by a Lagos Based lawyer, who approached the Federal High Court in Lagos to seek the disqualification of the president in contesting the 2019 presidential election.

The Lawyer who cited the President’s alleged inability to not submit his secondary school certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, has gone before the court his suit marked, FHC/L/CS/1765/18, contending that Buhari had not met the legal requirements to stand for election.

Okhai is praying the court to declare Buhari’s sworn affidavit null and void, contending that “it could not stand as a substitute to President Buhari’s certificate or take the place of the evidence of President Buhari’s educational qualification as a requirement and condition precedent in INEC Form CF001.”

According to Punch, the lawyer wants the court to restrain INEC, which was joined in the suit as the second defendant, from allowing Buhari to contest the election, having allegedly failed to meet the relevant requirements of the Electoral Act.

In an affidavit personally deposed to by himself, the lawyer said he recalled that Buhari made the same claim in 2014 while seeking to be elected as President, that his certificate was in the custody of the Secretary of the Military Board.

According to him, in response to Buhari’s claim, the Nigerian Army, through its spokesman, Brig Gen Olaleye Olajide, at a press conference held on January 20, 2015, stated that the Nigerian military was not in possession of Buhari’s certificates evidencing his educational qualification.

Okhai, in his affidavit, said he “reasonably believed that President Buhari has lied on oath where he claimed that his educational certificates are with the Nigerian Military Board.”

He urged the court to stop Buhari from contesting the next year’s presidential election.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, has yet to be assigned to any judge and no date has been fixed.