Islanders Magazine

New Prisons Comptroller-General Ahmed In Age Scandal


Mr. Ja'afaru Ahmed, the new Comptroller-General (CG) of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), was involved in age fabrication. Mr. Ahmed, who was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in May as successor to Dr. Peter Ekpendu, was an Assistant Comptroller-General the NPS headquarters in Abuja.

According to NPS documents in our possession, Mr. Ahmed joined the service on 30 November 1985, at the age of 28. He was posted to the administrative unit at the NPS headquarters.

The documents gave Mr. Ahmed's date of birth when he joined the service on  July 21, 1957. The date of birth remained consistent until 2015 when Mr. Ahmed sliced two years off his age and arrived at a date of birth of  July 21, 1959. NPS documents listing members of the top echelon of the service in 2015 boldly showed Mr. Ahmed, an indigene of Jega Local Government Area of Kebbi State, as the sixth highest placed officer. The documents, however, showed a different date of birth to what he claimed at the time he enlisted in the service.

NPS sources disclosed to SaharaReporters that the age falsification was encouraged by retired General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazzau, the Minister of the Interior, who wanted Mr. Ahmed to become the GG of the NPS and spent some time on the post before he retires. The implication of the falsification is that Mr. Ahmed has fraudulently gained two extra years in service.