'How I served as Commissioner, Minister without NYSC certificate' - Buhari’s ally makes shocking revelation

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Barrister Adebayo Shittu, the former minister of communication and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has weighed in on the disquiet over the appointment of Hannatu Musawa as minister without a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.

In an interview with Daily Trust, on Saturday, September 2nd, he revealed that those dissipating energy over the matter lack knowledge of the law.

The former minister who laughed over the NYSC scandal said, "As far as I’m concerned, that is not even an issue.

"We are guided in this country by the 1999 Constitution. "The 1999 Constitution did not make it mandatory that for anybody to hold public office, he/she must have NYSC discharge certificate." Barrister Shittu recalled he served in government, as a lawmaker in 1979, as soon he finished law school.

"Even though I was just coming out of Law school; and the court asked, where in the 1979 Constitution is there a provision that to contest election into the House of Assembly or any other political posts, you must have NYSC discharge certificate?

"By the time I finished my service in the House of Assembly, I was already 30 and I also automatically got appointed as honourable commissioner for Home Affairs, information and culture. That was in 1983, I was 30 by then.

"My reaction was that it was an irrelevant issue. The president needed her at a higher level than the NYSC level and so be it. It was the president’s decision; the woman did not appoint herself as minister."

Hannatu Musawa, the minister of art, culture and creative economy, has dissociated herself from a statement purportedly released by her regarding the controversy surrounding her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) status.

A statement published by a section of the media on Sunday, August 27, had claimed that the minister had finally spoken on the controversy over her status as a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) had raised the alarm that one of the ministers of President Bola Tinubu was a serving corps member.