The Senate on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Abdulmalik Durnnguwa as a commissioner in the National Population Commission.
This followed the presentation of the report of the Committee on National Identity Card and National Population Commission by its Chairman, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi.
Durnnguwa, from Kaduna state, is one of the 23 nominees whose names were sent by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate for screening and confirmation in April.
While others were confirmed on October 11, Durnnguwa’s nomination was stood down due to issues raised about his West African Examination Certificate result.
His case was further referred to the Committee on National Identity Card and National Population Committee for further legislative action.
Presenting his report on Thursday, Hunkuyi said the nominee appeared before the committee with two letters on the areas for which the committee demanded clarification.
One of the letters, he said, came from the Ministry of Education, Katsina State, where the secondary school Durnnguwa attended was located, while the other came from the school.
Hunkuyi said the committee was satisfied with the contents of both letters, confirming that the nominee obtained his WAEC O’Level certificate from the school.
However, Durnnguwa’s confirmation did not come without some argument led by the Minority Leader, Biodun Olujimi, who had raised some age issues in the nominee’s educational journey.
Olujimi said he could not have finished secondary school at the age of 10 as stated in his CV.
She further argued that it was impossible for Durnnguwa to get the Grade II certificate and the National Certificate of Education within less than 10 years after leaving secondary school.
She said: “Mr President, there is something intrinsically wrong in this and we need to sort it out before we pass it.”
Some All Progressives Congress members, including Barau Jibrin (Kano) and Adamu Aliero (Kebbi) countered Olujimi, accusing her of playing politics with the matter.
Aliero said the minority leader’s opposition was uncalled for since the issues raised by her had already been addressed by the committee.
In his contribution, the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, said the issues raised by Olujimi were not partisan as alleged by his colleagues.
Lawan, however, said the same issues were raised last week, and that he believed that the committee applied due diligence on the matter.
He said that an investigation he personally carried out on the matter also gave the nominee a clean bill of health.
At this point, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, put the matter to a voice vote, and it was approved by the lawmakers.
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