This is the concluding part of Lies about Buhari: The Truth Part 1.
Q: Did Buhari make Nigeria join the
Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC)?
A: NO!
Contrary to
PDP propaganda, Buhari refused to register Nigeria with OIC, insisting that
Nigeria is a secular state.
The
Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), now known as the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation, with headquarters in Jeddah, was established on 25
September 1969, following its first meeting in Morocco. General Yakubu Gowon
sent a Nigerian delegation, led by Alhaji Abubakar Gumi, “to represent Nigeria
Muslims” at the OIC’s first meeting of 1969 in Morocco, despite opposition.
The
administrations of Murtala/Obasanjo, Obasanjo/Yar’Adua, Shagari/Ekwueme and
Buhari/Idiagbon refused to sign to Nigeria’s full membership of the OIC despite
pressure and intense lobbying. They maintained that Nigeria is a secular state
and not an Islamic country.
A French
news agency reported that Nigeria was admitted into the OIC as its 46th member
in January 1986. This was while Gen Babangida was Head of State. Ebitu Ukiwe, then a Navy Commodore and second
in command to the then Military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, had it rough
with that administration when he declared publicly that the decision to join
OIC was not discussed at any level of government. Mr. Ukiwe’s denial of the
decision reportedly led to his forceful exit from government.
General Sani
Abacha maintained Nigeria’s membership despite calls for withdrawal from
various groups. There have been calls to withdraw Nigeria’s OIC membership but
as at this day, Nigeria remains a full member of the OIC, and the President
appoints delegates to represent Nigeria at OIC conferences.
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was the head of Nigeria’s
delegation to the OIC Islamic Summit in February 2013. Please see the complete
attendance list on the OIC website here.(
http://www.oic-oci.org/external_web/is/12/en/docs/final/is12_lop_x1_en.pdf)
Buhari was
Head of State between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985, and records from
the OIC within the period prove that he did NOT make Nigeria join the OIC.
Within the
OIC, the Conference of Ministers is responsible for membership application
approval based on the organisation’s Charter (Article 3.2). Focusing on the
OIC’s public records during the period closest to Buhari’s time as Head of
State, the OIC Conference of Foreign Ministers held in December 1983
(Bangladesh), December 1984 (Yemen) and January 1986 (Morocco).
Shagari was
President as at the 1983 conference while Buhari was Head of State during the
1984 conference, and Nigeria was not discussed during both conferences. It was
at the 16th conference in 1986 that Nigeria’s application for membership was
discussed. See item 18 of the final communiqué below:
18. The
Conference unanimously approved the request submitted by H.E. Haji Luqman,
Minister of Mines and Energy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for his
country’s accession to the membership of OIC making Nigeria the forty-sixth
member of the OIC. On this occasion, the Chairman of the Conference, a number
of the Heads of Delegations, and the Secretary General took the floor to
welcome Nigeria as member of the Organization.
References:
1. The
Cable: http://www.thecable.ng/osinbajo-buhari-never-took-nigeria-oic
2. Ezeamalu,
Ben, Premium Times, http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/173782-pdp-good-job-falsely-branding-buhari-islamic-extremist-osinbajo.html
3. Alechenu,
John & Eniola, Toluwani, The Punch,
http://www.punchng.com/news/im-joining-buhari-to-rebuild-nigeria-osinbajo/
4. Final
Communique, The Sixteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, OIC Website,
http://www.oic-oci.org/english/conf/fm/16/16%20icfm-final-en.htm
Q: Is Buhari qualified to run for
office, and did he graduate from secondary school?
A: YES!
Section 131
of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) sets
out qualification for election to the office of President. It provides as
follows:
131. A
person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if –
(a) he is a
citizen of Nigeria by birth;
(b) he has
attained the age of forty years;
(c) he is a
member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and
(d) he has
been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.
Section 318
(1) of the Constitution interprets “School Certificate or its equivalent” in
sub (d) above to mean:
(a) a
Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s
Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or
(b)
education up to Secondary School Certificate level; or
(c) Primary
Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent and –
(i) service
in the public or private sector in the Federation in any capacity acceptable to
the Independent National Electoral Commission for a minimum of ten years, and
(ii)
attendance at courses and training in such institutions as may be acceptable to
the Independent National Electoral Commission for periods totalling up to a
minimum of one year, and
(iii) the
ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language to
the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and
(d) any
other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral
Commission;
The Court of
Appeal Ibadan recently decided in ACN Vs. ADELOWO & ORS (2012) LPELR-19718
(CA) that a candidate or aspirant need not pass, possess, or produce a
certificate to meet requirements of the Constitution. These are the precise
words of the Court:
“From the
clear words of the constitutional provision, it did not require or state that
an aspirant or candidate… must pass or possess a certificate. The most
important thing is to have been educated up to secondary school level or the
equivalent, passing the senior secondary school certificate examination and
obtaining a certificate cannot be read into… the 1999 constitution as amended.
What is required under the law is that there must be evidence that a candidate
is educated up to the required level and not that he must or should produce a
certificate to prove the level of education attained…’. PER UWA, J.C.A (Pp.
52-53, para.D-C)
General
Buhari submitted his particulars to INEC on oath, which is what the law
requires him to do. In addition to this, he has demonstrated that he completed
secondary school education by asking his school to release his results. Not only has the school released the result, a University of Cambridge
photocopy of the results of 18 students who wrote the West African School
Certificate examinations in 1961, including Buhari and Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, is
also available.
In the
spirit of openness, Buhari also requested documents showing details of his
application to the military – an institution he had relied on to produce his
documents when they were called for.
As new
propaganda starts around a Wikipedia entry that claims Yar’Adua’s entry into
the army was in 1959, two years before the year stated as their joint year of
entry by Buhari, the following entry from page 27 of “Shehu Musa Yar’Adua: A
Life of Service” shows that they were classmates and graduated together in
1961:
“So it was
that at the end of 1961, Yar’Adua, Buhari, and several other classmates joined
in sitting for the army recruitment exam. To their mutual delight, celebrated
with telexes from Lagos to Katsina, they passed. In 1962 they were admitted to
the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) in Kaduna.”
In his own
words:
“I had
assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military
Secretary of the Nigerian Army. Much to my surprise, we are now told that
although a record of the result is available, there are no copies of the
certificates in my personal file. This is why I formally requested my old
school the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina to make available the school’s
copy of the result of the Cambridge/West African School Certificate… let me say
for the record that I attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina. I
graduated in 1961 with many prominent Nigerians, including General Shehu
Yar’Adua, former chief of staff at the Supreme Headquarters, and Justice Umaru
Abdullahi, a former President of the Court of Appeal. We sat for the University
of Cambridge/WASC Examination together in 1961, the year we graduated. My
examination number was 8280002, and I passed the examination in the Second
Division.”
References:
1. Vanguard
Newspaper, January 21, 2015, http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/buhari-met-constitutional-requirements-contest-president-constitutional-lawyer
2. Premium
Times, January 21, 2015,
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/175384-breaking-katsina-college-releases-buharis-%E2%80%8Bwasc-results.html
3. Premium
Times, January 21, 2015 (b),
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/175352-exclusive-nigerian-army-releases-academic-records-buhari.html
4. Shehu
Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, “Shehu Musa Yar’Adua: A Life of Service”, pp 27, 92
(opposite)
Q:Was Buhari responsible for the
United Kingdom’s cancellation of Nigeria’s visa free status?
A: ANSWER: NO!
The decision
by the British government to deny citizens of Nigeria, India, Ghana, Pakistan
and Bangladesh visa-free travel to the United Kingdom was the Thatcher
government’s response to domestic British immigration concerns and had nothing
to do with the policies of the Nigerian government. For the record, the Nigeria
government in place when the United Kingdom announced its decision on September
1, 1986, was led by General Ibrahim Babangida, and not Major-General Muhammadu
Buhari.
It is on
record that “the pressures on the inbound controls presented by the growth in
numbers and rates of refusal for some nationalities meant that, by 1986, the
case for new visa requirements became very strong and, on 1 September 1986, it
was announced that there would be new visa restrictions for people of India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan. For reasons which are not readily
explainable the visa restrictions did not come into force until 15 October.”
This is verifiable from Hansard, the written record of all UK parliamentary
proceedings, and when you read through the specific (and dated) proceedings
quoted below, you will find that not a single reference was made to the
Nigerian government’s political actions as the reason for the UK visa policy
change.
(a) October
21, 1986 – Statement by the UK Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, on the new visa
regime (followed by a debate): http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1986/oct/21/visas
(b) October
27, 1986 – Full Debate:
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1986/oct/27/immigration#column_120
(c) Follow
up responses by the UK Government Ministers to MP’s questions on the new visa
regime: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1986/nov/20/visas#s6cv0105p0_19861120_cwa_209
References:
1. Keesing’s
Record of World Events, Volume XXXI (Nov. 1985), page 33958
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Immigration_Service#cite_ref-28
3.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1986/oct/24/visitors#S6CV0102P0_19861024_CWA_120
4.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/uks-new-visa-policy-is-multi-edged-sword/
5.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1987/dec/03/visas#s6cv0123p0_19871203_cwa_241
Did Buhari ask for Amnesty for Boko
Haram because he supports them?
No:
Just as President Jonathan who has
set up Amnesty Committees and actually offered conditional amnesty on at least
2 occasions has not been accused of supporting Boko Haram.
What General Buhari believed at that
time was that, killing the arrested members of the sect extra judicially was
not the best approach as that actually would worsen the situation. He proposed
a carrot and stick approach in order to end insurgency at that time.
However, the General has come out to
say that he no longer believes in granting amnesty to the sect as they have
shown that they cannot be negotiated with.
References:
Sources
Oluwole Isaac
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My president. March4Buhari
ReplyDeleteTrie talk!!! #bringbackourgirls
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTrash
ReplyDeleteBuhari is an idiot
ReplyDeleteReal complete trash! No matter how hard you'd like to wash a pig, it still remains a pig! Quit trying! We know who Buhari is and what he has done to the polity both as a dictator and in the recent past. We ain't from space or another country. We've been around. So worry not. Save your pen abi your key pad. O sé.
ReplyDeleteMany of us are schooled, but definitely NOT educated. These are the known facts to most of us, but some die-hard, programmed minds will never know or outrightly not want to know these till they enter their graves.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately majority of those who have irrationally refused to know and accept these verifiable facts about Buhari are the Igbos You will know them by their comments and responses). This is not because they do not know the facts but deliberately refused to reason and turns rationality upside down on its head just for the fact that their kins men are everywhere in Jonathan's cabinet (as special Advisers, Ministers etc).
DeleteUnfortunately all these appointments have not transformed into any meaningful development both structurally and economically for the generality of the people in the East under Jonathan Government. These so called Igbo sons and daughters in GEJ cabinet have only succeeded in filling their pockets with looted funds meant for developing their home land, but still many Igbos are still blinded by follower-ship of ethnic affiliations even in the midst of poverty and suffering. An irony indeed.
we shall determine that on the election day.buhari has a record of coming back every four four years to contest election.we shall once again vote against him.wait and see.propaganta can't win election.
ReplyDelete