Ministerial Nominees Who Scaled Through Senate Screening Despite NYSC Allegation Saga

Two ministerial nominees of President Bola Tinubu who had controversies surrounding their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates were approved for appointment by the Senate on Monday.

The president had forwarded the names of Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, a second-term member of the House of Representatives from Ondo State, and Hannatu Musawa from Katsina State for confirmation as members of his cabinet.

Naija News reported last week that an Ondo State-based group operating under the aegis of Concerned Ondo Patriots had petitioned the Senate, asking it not to confirm President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial nominee, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo as minister over an alleged issue of certificate forging.

The group accused Tunji-Ojo of forging his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme certificate, which he presented before the upper chamber.

Tunji-Ojo is a former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and he is currently representing Akoko North Federal Constituency in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

In a petition signed by Bamidele Okere and Musiliu Babatunde, they alleged that the NYSC certificate the lawmaker presented before the Senate was forged, accusing him of perjury and lying on oath.

The group maintained that his confirmation by the senate would dent the integrity of President Bola Tinubu-led government.

Meanwhile, Tunji-Ojo claimed he graduated from the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University), where he studied Electronics and Communication Engineering and graduated in 2005 at 24.

The lawmaker, who was first elected in 2919, claimed in the documents he presented to the senate that he was mobilised for the compulsory one-year national service from November 28, 2019, to November 27, 2020, a few months after he was elected a federal lawmaker

Naija News gathered that the copy of the NYSC certificate with number FC/FRN/2019/724075, which he presented, was issued on February 28, 2023.

According to Premium Times, an NYSC official who pleaded to be anonymous said Tunji-Ojo’s claim is strange because the certificate also contained discrepancies that raised substantial questions about its legitimacy.

The source said considering the circumstances that the NYSC doesn’t replace its certificates, the issuance date of the certificate.

His NYSC certificate was issued in February and carries the signature of the incumbent NYSC Director General, Yushau Ahmed, a Brigadier General, who assumed office in January 2023 even though he claimed to have concluded the scheme in November 2020

The platform said Tunji-Ojo’s state code –9466– was also conspicuously missing in the ‘FCT KOPA’ 2019 Batch C, Stream II Magazine. The magazine contains the details of corps members who served in the same period as his certificate claimed.

Premium Times has, however, written to the management of NYSC requesting the verification of the NYSC certificate tendered by the lawmaker.

Also, it could be recalled that about three years ago, the 9th Nigerian Senate, under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, rejected Ms. Musawa Hannatu when nominated for an appointment for what the lawmakers described as the nominee’s inability to present the certificate.

The Senate had demanded Ms. Musawa’s NYSC discharge certificate or an exemption certificate, but she could not provide any.

However, on Monday evening, the Senate unanimously confirmed both nominees as fit to be appointed as ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria despite the controversies around their NYSC certificates.

Also, the upper chamber did not explain whether the questions raised on both their NYSC statuses have been satisfactorily clarified or not.