‘It’s a typo’ — senate clarifies discrepancy in EFCC board nominee’s age

The senate committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes has made clarification on the confirmation of Yahaya Muhammad, one of those nominated for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) board.

On Tuesday, Muhammad and four other nominees for the board of the anti-graft agency were confirmed by the senate, following the request of President Muhammadu Buhari in September.

The other nominees confirmed by the senate are George Abang (secretary), Lukman Mohammed, Anumba Adaeze and Bola Adesina.

Before they were confirmed, Hassan Hadejia, senator representing Jigawa north-east, drew the attention of the senate to what he described as “discrepancies” in Muhammad’s credentials.

Hadejia said according to the nominee’s credentials, Muhammad started school a year before he was born.

“He was born on 29th of September, 1969, and he started his primary school in 1968,” the lawmaker had said.

The upper legislative chamber has since received backlash for approving Muhammad’s nomination.

In a statement on Wednesday, Suleiman Kwari, chairman of the senate’s anti-corruption committee, said the nominee was born in 1959 instead of 1969.

Kwari also said the nominees were thoroughly scrutinised by the committee during the screening exercise.

“An observation was made by Senator Hadejia on the floor of the Senate to point out the typographical error misstating the year of birth to 1969 rather than 1959. The resume of the nominee, Alhaji Yahaya Mohammad, is hereby attached for public scrutiny,” the statement reads.

“The resumé of the nominee was not presented before the senate. Rather, it was the report of the senate committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes that was presented before the committee.”

Meanwhile, in the document attached to the statement, the nominee’s date of birth is given as December — September was previously presented.