16-Year-Old’s APC Bid Ends in Age-Falsification Row

Documents linked to Mahmud Sadis Buba and leaked online suggested he was born in 2010, even though he had told APC screening members he was 30.

The controversy began last month after a video of his All Progressives Congress screening for a House of Representatives seat spread on social media. Buba, who is from Sabon Gari in Zaria, said in that video that he had a senior secondary school certificate and had worked as a driver.

He also said his small stature and child-like appearance were the result of a form of dwarfism. “It is not about me, it is from the people. People called me to serve them, and I will serve,” Mahmud Sadis Buba told the members of his party, and that line became one of the most quoted political statements on Nigerian social media.

In the same viral screening video, Buba said he had been born on August 2nd, 1995, which would make him over 30 years old. But the leaked documents pointed to 2010 as his birth year, and that would make him a minor under both Nigerian law and international child rights frameworks.

To contest a seat in the Nigerian National Assembly, candidates must be at least 25 years old. In Buba’s case, however, the age question was not the only issue once the documents, photographs and testimony began to circulate.

Photos of an international passport, NIN slip, birth certificate and school records tied to Mahmud Sadis Buba all suggested he was a teenager. A former teacher also said he had taught Buba in junior secondary school and confirmed that he was 16.

Buba’s APC party first defended him and said he was the target of a smear campaign. It later disqualified him over alleged age falsification, and Buba then announced his withdrawal in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the APC, saying it had become necessary after consultations with his party.

“Please accept this letter as formal notification that I am withdrawing from the race for Sabon Gari Federal Constituency, House of Representatives, effective immediately,” the letter read. “This was not an easy decision, but it was hastened by the reconciliation efforts initiated by stakeholders and leaders of our party.”

Questions remain over how a 15-year-old kid with dwarfism passed the APC screening protocol and became one of the rising stars of Nigerian politics. Whether it was incompetence or a deliberate orchestration of his candidacy has not been answered so far.