Revealed: How PDP chiefs forged Buhari document as 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!”