Senate clears EFCC board nominee despite him starting primary school before he was born

CONTROVERSY has dogged the recent constitution of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) board of directors after one of the nominees just conformed by the senate is found to have started primary school before he was born.

Nigeria's constitutional provisions make it mandatory for the senate to confirm all EFCC nominees picked by the president and this process has been going on all week. Yesterday, senators conformed the appointment of Yahaya Muhammad despite there being serious discrepancies in the information he submitted.

In a report presented by its chairman, Senator Suleiman Kwari, the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, cleared all the nominees. Earlier, Senator Hassan Hadejia from Jigawa North East, had said that the curriculum vitae submitted by Mr Muhammad indicated that he started school before he was born.

Senator Hadejia said: “Let me bring to the notice of the House, certain discrepancies in the report that are contradictory, especially with regard to one of the nominees, Alhaji Yahaya Muhammad. The nominee, according to the record before us, 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. He was in Borno Teachers College from 1975 and 1988 while simultaneously he was in the College of Administration Studies from 1980 to 1981."

George Ekungu from Cross River State was confirmed as the EFCC secretary, while Luqman Muhammed (Edo), Anumba Adaeze (Enugu), Kola Adesina (Kwara) and Yahaya Muhammad (Yobe) were cleared as board members. Senator Kwari had told the senators that the nominees were thoroughly screened and found worthy of holding the positions.