The lawmaker representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, Senator Ishaku Abbo has said that he sat for the National Common Entrance Examination and “won” it when he was in Primary Three.
During the screening of the ministerial nominee from Benue State, Prof. Joseph Utsev on Monday at the Senate chamber, there was concern about the age of the nominee.
The nominee In his certificate, Utsev stated that he was born in 1980 and finished secondary school in 1989.
The error was spotted by Lagos East lawmaker, Senator Tokunbo Abiru, who stated that something must have been missing.
Citing Utsev’s curriculum vitae, Abiru said the ministerial nominee was born in 1980 and started primary school three years after in 1984, and finished secondary school in 1989.
But when he rose up to ask the nominee a question, Abbo said that he had a similar personal experience to the ministerial nominee.
The lawmaker explained that he sat and passed the Common Entrance Examination when he was in Primary Three.
He, however, failed to disclose his age or year when he sat for the examinations, claiming that he was exceptionally brilliant.
He said: “First of all, our nominee from Benue State, you see some people don’t understand some basic things. To clear the air on the issue of you finishing primary school at the age of three. Let me tell you a personal story. I sat for the common entrance examination when I was in primary three and I won because I was exceptionally brilliant. I passed, it is all the same; winning and passing is the same.
“So, the question of you entering primary school at the age of three did not arise but when did you finish and at what level did you sit for your common entrance examination. You may be like me – exceptionally brilliant – but we have clear the issue because we are on national television and I don’t want people to go home and think that your integrity has been called to question”.
