Certificate saga: Buhari hires 13 SANs – Read Nigerians shocking reactions

– As the controversy surrounding President Buhari’s WASC certificate lingers, he has employed the services of 13 Senior Advocate of Nigeria for his defence

– An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, had alleged that Buhari was unqualified to be Nigeria’s president

– Some Nigerians are wondering why the president cannot present a mere certificate and  needs 13 legal heavy weights to defend him

Nigerians had completely forgotten about President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate saga until reports surfaced recently that the case was still in court.

An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had dragged Buhari to court, challenging the authenticity of his WAEC result and arguing that he did not meet the educational requirement to contest for President of Nigeria.

He alleged that the president did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate WASC) in 1961 as he claimed.

On May 26, Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed Buhari’s preliminary objection to Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe’s suit.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, the president has employed the services of 13 Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and 10 other counsels to appeal the ruling of Justice Ademola.

READ ALSO: Nigerians react to #PMBShowUsUrCertificate saga

The 13 SANs who make up Buhari’s legal team are Chief Wole Olanipekun, Lateef O. Fagbemi, Chief Akin Olujinmi, Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu, Kola Awodein, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, Charles Edosomwan, Emeka Ngige, Femi Atoyebi, Femi Falana, Funke Aboyade, H.O. Afolabi, Muiz Banire and 10 other counsel.

These lawyers are challenging Justice Ademola’s ruling which requests that Buhari should enter into defence in the case challenging his eligibility to contest the last election on account of being academically unqualified.

Some Nigerians are wondering why President Buhari needs 13 legal heavy weights to argue against him presenting his certificate if it really exists.

Others are wondering how long it takes to present a mere certificate and they have taken to social media to voice their opinion.

Below are some reactions.

“All this and the cost of it, just for him not to be mandated to produce his WASC certificate, which is glaring now, that he does not have it. A certificate he claimed to have knowing fully well he does not, and people come here to talk of his integrity. Tufiakwa,” Chukwunenye Obiezu wrote on Facebook.

Uchenna Maduwuba, resident of Port Harcourt, blamed former president Goodluck Jonathan for allowing Buhari contest the election without a certificate. “It was as if everyone was jinxed,” he noted.

Posterity and future generations need to know

That a President was asked to show his WAEC Certificate but he rather went to bring 13 SANs.

— Ebube D Statesman (@akaebube) June 15, 2016

Some others took notice of the fact that no northerner was on the list of the president’s legal team.

According to Magnus Mcpeters Abua, an administrative officer at vita construction limited, the president chose his legal team from southern Nigeria but when its time for appointments, he will look for northerners to occupy the positions.

1. Is it me or has any one noticed that buhari’s legal team, defending his WAEC Certificate saga does not have a single Northerner?

— Nelson (@foreingner4u) June 16, 2016

2. Does it mean that the northerners do not have a single “charge and bail” Lawyer, not to speak of a SAN?

WAEC Certificate

— Nelson (@foreingner4u) June 16, 2016

In spite of it all, Buhari still has some supporters who have no issues with him not having a certificate. For some, the president has a right to hire as many lawyers as he wants.

READ ALSO: Certificate saga: Buhari files appeal against ruling

As for Kayode Oduoye from Oyo state, certificate is useless. According to him, the president might not have a certificate but he has ideas and is brave enough to tackle the challenges facing the country.

“If Buhari does no possess a WAEC certificate but can bring to book all the looters of the country, with which someone or many who have passed the gate of university like myself and obtained the highest degree with no trace of better life in the populace as many will expect of a highly learned person, then certificate is useless. It is the idea that rules the world not certificate simple,” he said.

Chydon Ebere wrote: “This is a case that was in court before the election, until the plaintiff withdraws the case from court, Buhari is under obligation to respond and hire his advocates. Hiring of 12 SANs is not the issue, the most beautiful thing is that Buhari has allowed the rule of law to run its course. Buhari said he lost his WAEC certificate but he had a copy with the military. The military accepted initially that they have it but PDP played their wuru wuru politics and bribed the military to deny having his WAEC cert. Immediately after he was sworn in, the military announced again that they found the missing certificate. WAEC does not issue a certificate twice, you can only get another statement of result from your school which Buhari did before the election. Let the plaintiff prove his case. All i know is that the military would not have accepted Buhari to be enrolled into Nigeria Army without presenting his WASC in the first place. It is easy to accuse someone but you must prove your case in a court of law. If Buhari can weather the storm as a presidential candidate and defeat a clueless sitting president, no amount of blackmail can stop him from ruling Nigeria for 8yrs. Wailers should go and hug transformer.”

Ayodeji Akande wrote: “Well, every Nigerian has the right to legal representation of his choice. What about the Senate President with over 20 legal representation. If we must criticise let find something worthy not this one because it is constitutional to be represented by numbers.”

Does Buhari need 13 SANs to argue against presenting a “mere” certificate?

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