FIJ
Wikipedia, the popular and free online encyclopedia, maintains different dates of birth in the same biographical article on Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives who celebrated his birthday on Sunday.
Discrepancies in the Speaker’s year of birth appeared in his Wikipedia article and on the Google search engine.
While the article stated twice that Abbas was born on October 1, 1963, the same piece reported that Abbas was born on October 1, 1965.
Not only were the volunteering editors of the online encyclopedia unsure of Abbas’ date of birth, his friends and supporters seem confused too. Two posters created to celebrate Abbas on his birthday carried different ages: 58 and 60 years.
Obviously, Abbas’ supporters and well-wishers consulted the same sources as the Wikipedia article contributors for his date of birth, so they arrived at separate dates and different ages for him.
The same article correctly stated that Abbas is Nigeria’s 15th Speaker. To be clear, while the legislator is officially recognised as the Speaker of the 10th National Aseembly, there have been 15 speakers.
Patricia Etteh and Dimeji Bankole both served as the Speaker in one tenure (2007–2011), while Salisu Buhari and Ghali Umar Na’Abba did the same between 1998 and 2003.
While the contributors and editors of Wikipedia articles often make mistakes, users of the encyclopedia have become very reliant on it for quick information.
At press time, Google relied on the same sources that gave Abbas’ date of birth as October 1, 1963.
The National Assembly website officially states that Abbas was born on October 1, 1965. Abbas is the Speaker of Nigeria’s 10th National Assembly.
According to the National Assembly, Abbas is 58 years old. The State House also published a 58th birthday wish for Abbas on Sunday.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN FIJ
