Former President Muhammadu Buhari has clarified the reason behind his reluctance to release his West African School Certificate (WASC) during the lead-up to the 2015 general elections.
Buhari said his refusal was to his critics “venting spleen on it could please themselves.”
This was disclosed in Chapter 5 of the book, “Working with Buhari – Reflections of Special Adviser, Media & Publicity (2015–2023),” written by his former media adviser, Femi Adesina.
Adesina’s book details Buhari’s educational background and the controversy surrounding his WASC certificate during the 2015 election.
In the book, the former media aide narrated how, in November 2018, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Registrar and officials presented Buhari with an attestation certificate.
“I was going through a drawer some days ago and saw copies of my certificate. I always had it but refused to release it, so that those venting spleen on it could please themselves,” Adesina quoted Buhari as saying in 2018.
Buhari noted the significance of English, Mathematics, and General Knowledge exams during military training, considering the colonial heritage of English as the language for general instruction.
He highlighted the practical training in mathematics and geography required for military officers, including learning to navigate in the bush using only a compass.
“It would have been impossible for me to attend the Defence Services Staff College, India (1973) and thereafter, the United States Army War College, as a Nigerian military officer if I didn’t sit for the WASC examinations in 1961,” Adesina quoted Buhari in the book.
“My colleagues and I who spent close to nine years in boarding school both in primary and secondary, including Gen. Musa Yar’adua, when we intended to join the military we had to take a military examination.
“We were examined in three subjects: English, Mathematics and General Knowledge because English is the language for general instruction throughout the country because of our colonial heritage.
“Mathematics in the military was necessary, coupled with Geography. We were trained how to be dropped off in the bush, given only a pair of compass and since we’re not astronomers, you’ve to learn to find your way, calculate, using the Pythagoras Theorem and others to work out your position.”
