NASS Beware, Buhari Nominee Does Not Have NYSC Certificate

Hannatu Musa Musawa is a familiar name in political circles in Kano and Katsina States where her father, Alhahji Musa Musawa, bestrode like a political colossus.

She is also a political activist in the mold of her father who was a juggernaut of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party led by the late Aminu Kano, and boasts of connections in high places. Thus, it was not surprising that she was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari to the board of the National Pension Commission (PenCom)  as a commissioner to represent North West.

But unlike her father whose patriotic zeal for Nigeria could not be faulted, Hanney, as she is fondly called, has question marks hanging on her integrity and patriotism.

Almost as soon as her name was mentioned as one of the six nominees to the board of PenCom last month, this website started digging into their profiles and eventually found a grey spot on the CV of one of the president’s appointees.  

Musawa’s CV does not show she did the mandatory National Youth Service Corps after she left school in the United Kingdom.

She studied law at the University of Buckingham, UK, took a Postgraduate Masters Degree in the Legal Aspects of Marine Affairs, and has obtained a Postgraduate Masters Degree in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

But there’s no record that she did the NYSC. Unofficial checks at the NYSC Secretariat also showed that she may never have served her country as this website was told they couldn’t find anything about her.

“If she presented an NYSC certificate, it must be fake because we could not find her record,” an official of the NYSC told this website on Tuesday.

A group from the North West zone which felt scandalized by her appointment has written a petition to the Senate to stop her confirmation on the ground that she does not possess the NYSC Certificate, a claim that corroborates this website’s investigations.

The group, which called itself the “League of Concern Indigenes of the States in the Northwest zone,” had apparently dug into her past, and addressed the petition to Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, Chairman of the Senate Committee that oversights PenCom.

The petition dated 7^th October, was signed by Comrade Musa Argungu who resides in Birnin Kebbi. Part of the petition, which was obtained by this website, read:

“In fact, we are very surprised that the list of the people nominated by President Buhari for the Pencom includes Hannatu Musa Musawa. Everybody knows that she didn’t attend NYSC after her degree in UK. That is why she never worked for the Government since she come back from her studies. The Committee should critically analyze her CV and even if she submits any NYSC certificate, it is fake. This is against the NYSC Act.

“We know that many things are hidden from the President. That is why some godfathers propose her name to him for the Pencom job even though she doesn’t have NYSC Certificate. That is how even after confirmation she will be disqualified and forced to resign or blackmailed to compromise standards for fear of discovery. This is how the former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi was forced to resign because she did not go for NYSC after graduation from UK. We believe that this mistake can be checkmated by your Senate Committee…”

The group pleaded with the Senate Committee to “investigate this matter very well and save us from the shame of confirming Hannatu Musawa only to be disgraced later by resigning forcefully.”

This may explain why she had never taken a federal government job since she came back to the country some years ago.

She had remained in active legal practice since her return to the country, and while she claimed to have represented government agencies on some legal matters, she had never held a full-time government job.

This also explains why she had been active politically on human rights and women’s rights issues. She even took a shot at elective political office in 2011 when she contested for the Federal House of Representatives legislative seat in her home state of Katsina.