The Deputy Registrar of the West African Examination Council, WAEC, Oshindehinde Adewumi, on Wednesday, told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja that he was the one that certified President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement of results earlier this year.
But under cross-examination by lawyers, the witness, who was subpoenaed to appear before the Justice Mohammed Garba-led five-member panel tribunal, said he could not confirm Buhari’s Cambridge Assessment International Certified Statement Of West African School Certificate issued in 1961.
The purported Cambridge certificate was earlier admitted in evidence as exhibit R-21 by the president’s lawyers.
According to him: “This document is not bearing my name or signature. You cannot expect me to certify a document that is not from WAEC. This document is bearing Cambridge Assessment International Certified Statement. It is not a document from the WAEC”, he said.
Meanwhile, the witness had earlier when he was introduced by President Buhari’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, maintained that he certified the statement of results.
Fielding questions from counsel to the All Progressives Congress, APC, the witness told the tribunal that the statement of result Buhari tendered, emanated from an examination WAEC conducted in conjunction with the University of Cambridge, Vanguard reports.
He told the tribunal that 18 candidates sat for the exam in 1961, with President Buhari listed as number two.
The Deputy registrar who said he had worked for WAEC for about 30 years, confirmed that Buhari sat for eight subjects, out of which he got five credits in Oral English, History, Geography, Hausa and Health Science.
He said Buhari came out with an aggregate score of 32 and was categorized in Grade 2.
He said: “I confirm that whoever has this result has a secondary certificate”, he added.
When it was his turn to ask questions, counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who are the petitioners before the tribunal, asked the witness to spell the name on the certificate.
Asked again, the witness said, “This document is bearing the name of Cambridge University Assessment International Education”.
Asked if the document was issued by WAEC, he said, “It is not a document from the West Africa Examination Council”.
Asked about Exhibit R21, he said, “This is the foundation, the primary foundation for issuance of a certificate.”
The witness was also asked if the document was a certificate.
“This is not a certificate,” the witness answered.
When asked, he also said, “I have never worked with the University of Cambridge”.
In his bid to point out out contradictions in the two documents, the petitioners’ lawyers asked the witness to compare the number of subjects listed against Buhari in them.
The witness confirmed that in R21, “The number of subjects listed against the 2nd respondent (Buhari) is eight”, and in R19 “six subjects”.
He also confirmed that the first name on the two documents was “Mohamed” and as against the President’s “Muhammad”.
Asked if he was aware that Dr Iyi had on November 2, 2018, “purported to give President Buhari attestation certificate”?, the witness said: “Yes I am aware”.
Nevertheless, he said it was not true that such attestation could only be given when a candidate misplaced or lost his certificate.
