The Chairman of the National Population Commission, Festus Odumegwu has been queried by the Federal Government over embarrassing comments relating to the last population census.
This was confirmed by the spokesman for the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sam Nwaobasi in a telephone interview with Daily Times stating that the chairman was asked to “explain his utterances ” adding that contrary to speculations he had not been suspended.
The news of the NPC Chairman’s suspension which has been rife in the media came on the heels of a call for his sack by Kano State Governor, Musa Kwankwoso last week.
The NPC Chairman had alleged that no credible census had been conducted in Nigeria since 1816. According to him, census figures were regularly distorted for selfish reasons.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Odimegwu had given a graphical analysis of how the various census exercises had been manipulated over the years.
?No census has been credible in Nigeria since 1816. Even the one conducted in 2006 is not credible. I have the records and evidence produced by scholars and professors of repute”.
It can also be recalled that the Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had faulted the appointment of the chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC).
Kwanwkaso, who met with President Goodluck Jonathan on the said day, described the appointment as a mistake.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after his meeting with Jonathan, the governor said if Odimegwu were not a drunkard, he would not have condemned the 2016 census.
According to the governor, Odimegwu is supposed to correct any wrong done by his predecessor rather than condemn it.
“And we are not happy about that appointment, and think that it was a mistake. Festus shouldn’t be there in the first place, why because, you see, unfortunately, we are…together, somebody read his CV. He had only one thing in alcoholic industry, all his life. And my guess is that he’s taking a lot of his products and that is why we feel that his appointment is a mistake because he cannot be the chairman of NPC and at the same time be attacking what his predecessor had done.
