Revealed: How PDP chiefs forged Buhari document

Blogger accuses Fani-Kayode of doctoring mail
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders seem to
be hanging on tenaciously to their puerile stand
that All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential
candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has not come
clean on its academic qualifications.
It emerged yesterday that the PDP Presidential
Campaign Council manipulated a Cambridge
University e-mail to justify its claim that Gen.
Buhari’s West African School Certificate’s
statement of result was forged.
PDP Campaign Council spokesman Femi Fani-
Kayode has been accused of doctoring an e-mail
from Cambridge.
An accountant and blogger, Mr. Suraj Oyewale,
claimed in a message published by Premium
Times that the e-mail received from Cambridge by
his friend, Sodiq Alabi, was doctored by Fani-
Kayode to achieve another purpose. Fani-Kayode
has not disputed this claim.
Oyewole said: “The controversy over the secondary
school results of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu
Buhari, continues as the University of Cambridge
has said that Hausa Language, which is one of the
subjects listed by Buhari, was not offered in its
examinations in 1961.
“The disclosure was contained in a statement from
the office of the Director of the PDP Presidential
Campaign Organisation claiming it came through
an e-mail dated Thursday, January 22, 2015 from
the institution’s Archives Delivery Service Officer,
Jacky Emerson, to one SODIQ ALABI who
requested for confirmation if the examination body
offered Hausa Language in the 1961 West African
Certificate Examination it organised.
“Emerson, in his one-sentence reply, said:
“According to the Regulations for 1961, African
Language papers, including those for Hausa, WERE
NOT included for West African School Certificate.
“This development may have further cast doubts
on the certificate which is purported to be General
Buhari’s. He is yet to react to the assertion by the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential
Campaign Organisation that the document (the
published certificate) was forged and illegally
procured.” (Capitalizations mine)
Sodiq was shocked such falsehood was attributed
to him by Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode and wanted
misrepresentation.
“Sodiq Alabi (sodiqalabi@ hotmail.com) had written
an email to Cambridge Assessment, the brand
name of University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicates, on January 22, 2015,
13.31 hours, to confirm whether Hausa was truly
offered by it in 1961 examinations. By 4.10pm
same day, Jacky Emerson (archives@
cambridgeassessment.org.uk), Archive Services
Delivery officer of Cambridge Assessment, replied
thus: “Dear Sodiq Alabi, According to the
Regulations of 1961, African Language papers,
WERE SET for West Africa School Certificate.”
“A screenshot of this email exchange was shared
with us on Facebook by Sodiq and it went viral on
the internet.
“The email triggered other Nigerians to send
emails to Cambridge Assessment for independent
confirmation and the school came out with a
statement on its website the next day. In the
release titled, ‘Statement in response to Nigerian
Presidential election enquiries”, the school stated,
‘The organisation also confirmed that according to
the Regulations for 1961, African Language papers,
including those for Hausa, WERE SET for the West
African School Certificate.” Here is the link to the
Cambridge Assessment website where this
confirmation was published: http://
cambridgeassessment.org.uk/news/statement-in-
response-to-nigerian-presidential-election-
enquiries/.
“It is however surprising that Femi Fani-Kayode
went ahead to alter the content of Sodiq’s email in
his press statement to, ‘According to the
Regulations for 1961, African Language papers,
including those for Hausa, WERE NOT included for
West African School Certificate.’, and still quoted
the email as the source.
“It is very unfortunate that this is the man speaking
for the President’s re-election campaign. How do
we believe every other ‘fact’ he has quoted has
not been altered as well? It is a shame.
He added: “This is not the first time President
Jonathan’s men are forging or altering documents
to demonise anyone perceived as the President’s
‘enemy’. His New Media Assistant, Reno Omokri,
was also busted in February, last year, when he
hid under a pseudonym, Wendel Simlin, to send
false but damaging reports to newspapers to
demonise the then just suspended Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. A
dig into the source of the computer used in typing
the document showed it was a certain Reno
Omokri that authored it!”