The Senate, on Tuesday, confirmed Mr Yahaya Muhammad, a nominee for the board of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), whose curriculum vitae showed that he started primary school a year before he was born.
Muhammad is one of the five nominees of President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday.
The confirmation of the nominees followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, chaired by Senator Suleiman Abdu Kwari (APC, Kaduna).
Buhari had, in a letter dated September 17, 2021, asked the Red Chamber to confirm the appointments of the Secretary and Board members of EFCC.
Those confirmed alongside Muhammad are George Abang Ekungu, Secretary (Cross River); Luqman Muhammed (Edo); Anumba Adaeze (Enugu) and Kola Raheem Adesina (Kwara).
Senator Kwari, in his presentation, said the committee after scrutinising the nominee’s credentials was satisfied that they have the requisite experience, integrity, professional competence and industry to discharge the functions for which they were nominated.
He said there was no adverse security report or petitions against any of them and urged the Senate to confirm them.
However, Senator Hassan Hadejia (APC, Jigawa) called the attention of his colleagues to discrepancies in the report which, according to him, indicated that Muhammad was born on 29th September 1969 and started his Central Primary school in 1968.
He said: “Let me bring to the notice of the House certain discrepancies in the report that are contradictory especially with regards to one of the nominees, Alhaji Yahaya Muhammad on page 8, where the nominee according to record started his primary school before he was born.
“There is also an overlap in the sequence of his educational experience because here, he was born on 29th September 1969 and he started his Central Primary school in 1968.
“Then he was in Borno Teachers College from 1975 and 1988 while simultaneously he was in the College of Administration Studies from 1980 to 1981. If these are typographical errors Mr President, maybe we should have them corrected for the sake of our record.”
Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who presided over the plenary, ignored the complaints and went ahead with the confirmation.
Daily Trust
