Perjury, forgery: Lawyers demand Buhari’s prosecution

A group of lawyers under the aegis of Coalition of Concerned Lawyers of Nigeria has called on the Inspector General of Police to immediately investigate a case of perjury and certificate forgery made against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen Muhammmadu Buhari, and prosecute him if found wanting to preserve the integrity of the 2015 electoral process.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the leader of the Group, Dr Amaechi Nwaiwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said having relied on the school certificate in an affidavit sworn to at an Abuja High Court on the 24th of November last year, Buhari is duty bound to personally present the certificate to INEC or face the consequences spelt out by the law for perjury.
While picking holes in the statement of result published by the Government College, Katsina last week, the legal practitioners said the content of the document does not support the enlistment of Buhari into the military and that the APC candidate appears to have criminally concealed the fact that he failed Mathematics in view of the fact that it was a requirement for his commissioning into the Nigerian Army officers’ cadre.
According to the organisation, the fact that the documents presented contains some alterations raises more suspicion which must be probed by the police in fulfilment of its duties as prescribed by Section 214 of the Nigerian Constitution.
Amaechi posited that Nigerians have a duty to demand that those who seek public offices are qualified and abide by the provisions of the constitution and other laws of the land of the institution of governance must be protected from abuse.
In his words: “The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice where sovereignty belongs to the people from whom Government, through the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, derives all its power and authority”
The coalition said a matter such as whether a candidate possesses minimum qualification for the Presidency is beyond partisan politics and must be conclusively proved and that “where someone swears to an affidavit, he puts himself to the public as being able to prove his aver nets”