‘Buhari doesn’t have a certificate,’ Jonathan’s aide insists

The Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe has said that he has no regrets for his criticisms of President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.

Okupe also said that Buhari had no academic certificate and as such was not an electable leader despite his victory in the March 28 presidential elections.

The presidential aide made the comments on Monday, April 20, via a post on his Facebook page.

The post reads:

“These are very interesting times in our nation. An election has come and gone. A victor has emerged and the loser has conceded. Yet some of our folks are behaving as if we have just gone through a war between two hostile nations. The APC agents all over the place are unrelenting in their tirades of abuses, insults and lies against President Goodluck Jonathan, his aides and supporters.”

“It is shameful that we are still saddled with denying falsehood and fabrications in the social media and even by hitherto highly respected newspapers. Missing $20bn found in an account in Zenith. PGEJ returns tons of dollars to federation accounts. N2tn spent on elections by PGEJ.”

“Okupe says Chibok girls will not be found. How many lies, deliberate falsehood and evil propaganda, outright curses and attacks must we suffer just because we lost an election in which we were never disgraced?”

“Buhari polled 15m (56 per cent) while Jonathan scored 12m (46per cent). Those who talk to us disparagingly should respect the sentiments of the 12m Nigerians who voted for Jonathan.”

“Of course, we have our reservations about the results but we will pass on that for now. We have lost this election but this is not and can never be a crime. We are all Nigerians and having lost does not make us less. We should be allowed to bow out peacefully and constitutionally on the 29th of May.”

“Yes, I said Buhari was not electable. I also said his victory will not happen. I said and I still insist that Buhari has no WASC certificate. I said a lot of things to promote my candidate and many things to put his opponent down. I have no regrets for any of the statements I made. Lai Mohammed said worse. This is the nature of politics. For anyone who cares to listen. We will be back, period.”

Buhari had been severely criticized by Jonathan's supporters and even described as semi-literate after the army denied being in possession of his academic credentials.

Jonathan will officially hand-over power to Buhari on May 29, 2015, Nigeria’s Democracy Day.