Claim: European-American University Confers Honorary Doctorate Degree on Nigerian Musician, Dauda Kahuta Rarara
Source: Social media and news websites
Verdict: False
Researched by Hamza Ibrahim
On September 20, 2025, claims that a popular northern Nigerian musician, Dauda Adamu Abdullahi Kahutu Rarara, was conferred an honorary doctorate by the European-American University have gone viral on multiple news portals and on Facebook.
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The news was published with photos and videos of the supposed conferment event in Abuja attended by Rarara and his wife, Aisha Humaira, alongside the Governor of Katsina State, Dr Dikko Umar Radda, friends and fans of the recipient and some government officials.
Portals like Daily Trust, Solacebase, Intelregion, Freedom Radio Nigeria, Jaridar Arewa, and Facebook accounts such as Abbany Rara and Ali Nuhu Mohammed, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation, shared the images with congratulatory messages which have generated 59k likes, 4.8k comments and 304 shares.
Fact-check
Checks conducted by FactSpace West Africa found that the viral claim that Dauda Kahutu Rarara, the famed political singer, has been conferred with an honorary doctorate by the European American University is false.
FactSpace analysed the honorary doctorate awardees list on the institution’s website but did not find the name of Rarara or others who were supposedly conferred with honours at the September 20, 2025, event.
The conferment was further established to be fake because, according to the institution, it did not authorise the event, which was without its formal representation. In a statement published on their website, the university described the ceremony held for the conferment in Abuja as fake and fraudulent.
The university, on September 21, posted a follow-up statement that said it was making an offer to Rarara and other defrauded awardees to get the honours they had been conferred with illegally.
Curiously, the disclaimer and this other statement have both been deleted from the university’s website.
The following major points were gleaned from the statement:
- The University had not held any convocation in Nigeria this year.
- Organisers of the event were unknown to the university
- Three other supposed awardees had also been given fake conferments at the same event
- An official associated with the university who took part has his appointment revoked immediately
- The university will take up the issue with the authorities to forestall a recurrence
The statement with the title: ‘Disclaimer – Fake “convocation” in Nigeria – the University has NOT conferred an honorary degree on Dauda Kahutu Rarara’, stated in part:
“European-American University has today been informed of an article in the Nigerian press that states falsely that the University has held a convocation today at NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria. The same incorrect information has been repeated in other Nigerian press articles.
“The University has not authorized any convocation to be held in this location today, and this event has been organized fraudulently without the knowledge or consent of the University.”
Aside from the popular musician, the institution also disclaimed awarding similar doctorates to Alhaji Ahmed Saleh jnr, Mustapha Abdullahi Bujawa and Tarela Boroh.
“All holders of degrees from the University are listed in the Register of Graduates at https://europeanamerican.university/about/register-of-graduates. These individuals are not honorands of the University and have no legitimate connection with us,” the statement added.
It further disclaimed alleged officials of the institution who were present at the conferment event in Abuja.
Previous academic controversy involving Dauda Kahutu Rarara
In July 2025, an alleged international conference on the songs of the popular political singer, Dauda Rarara, sparked a lot of public debate when an online flyer announcing the conference, scheduled to take place in October, at the Federal University Dustin-Ma in Katsina State, circulated widely on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
The flyer was disowned by the Bayero University, Kano (BUK’s) Director of Information and Protocol including the supposed keynote speaker, Prof. Abdallah Uba Adamu of the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University, Kano.
Reacting to the conference via his Facebook profile, Prof. Abdallah wrote a piece titled: ‘The Conference that Never Was!’ which read in part:
“I was surprised when I started getting fliers from associates announcing a conference on Rarara (see below). It was titled 1st International Conference on the Songs of Alhaji Dauda Kahutu Rarara, with the theme of Studies on the Songs of Alhaji Dauda Adamu Kahutu Rarara.
“I want to make it abundantly clear that while I support the idea of public dissection of performance arts – music, literature, film, theatre, art – I am not part of this initiative because no one has sought my consent or availability. This is highly unprofessional.
“It would appear that in a desperate rush to legitimize Rarara’s performing arts, either himself or his associates, or both, decided to rope the university and a few of us into their dastardly fraudulent scheme,” he added.
Adding his voice to the purported conference, Nasiru M Abdul, the Director of Information and Protocol of Federal University Dutsin Ma, also said;
“The university management is not aware and has not entered into any collaboration with the said Pleasant College of Advanced Studies or any institution for that matter to host the advertised international conference.”
Verdict
The viral post, which claimed that Nigerian musician and political singer, Dauda Kahutu Rarara, has been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree by the European-American University, is false.
