Adewale Bashir Adeniyi, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, claimed two dates of birth at different times in official documents, an investigation by SaharaReporters has revealed.
Different documents seen by SaharaReporters showed that Adeniyi at different times in his career used these two dates of birth to manipulate the system in his favour.
For instance, the customs boss used January 19, 1964, as his date of birth on his curriculum vitae when he was employed in the service of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in 1981.
He also used the same birth date when he was applying for employment in the customs service in 1990.
The documents revealed the customs boss turned 60 on January 19, 2024, by which time he should have retired based on public service rules.
However, his age falsification has enabled him to remain in service beyond 60 years of age
Adeniyi now claims that he was born on January 13, 1966, in his curriculum vitae.
“He is still in service because he falsified his date of birth by changing it from January 19, 1964 to January 13, 1966,” a source told SaharaReporters.
“If going by his real age, he should have retired from the federal service in January but he used his position and connections to falsify, alter and manipulate his records to attain this position.”
As if that was not enough, the documents also revealed that Adeniyi altered his years of service to remain in customs service.
He graduated from secondary school in 1979 when he took the West African School Certificate Examination and was employed into the service of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in 1981 as a Public Relations Assistant.
Adeniyi worked as a public servant at the NRC from November 1981 to 1990 from where he was employed in the service of the Nigeria Customs Service.
The documents showed he included his nine years of public service experience in his documentation form with the customs.
Adeniyi while documenting for the customs job in 1990 in ‘Details Of Employment Since Leaving School,’ wrote, “Nigerian Railway Corporation November 1981 to Date.”
His customs staff information form is numbered 39554. He was appointed into the customs service on 2-11-1990 as ASC (Assistant Superintendent of Customs).
Other information provided by Adeniyi showed he attended the University of Ife from October 1983 to June 1987, where he obtained a BSc in International Relations and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism from July 1989 to September 1989, and also from May 1990 to May 1990.
He also disclosed that he earned a certificate in Basic, Advanced Public Relations in 1989, adding that he learnt to speak French at Alliance Francaise in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He said he attended Modakeke High School from September 1974 to June 1979 and Ejigbo Baptist High School from September 1980 to June 1981.
Falsification of age is a serious criminal offence in Nigeria also known as forgery.
Section 463 of the Criminal Code stipulates a three-year imprisonment sentence for forgery.
Sections 362 to 364 of the Penal Code address forgery offences, with penalties reaching up to 14 years in prison.
When contacted for his reaction, Adeniyi asked SaharaReporters to reach out to the Customs spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada.
However, multiple calls to Maiwada’s mobile lines were not answered or returned.
Text and WhatsApp messages also sent to his line were not replied to at the time of filing this report.
A subsequent message sent to the Customs boss to inform him that Maiwada had not responded so that he could instruct him to do so was not replied to.