The nomination of Hannatu Musawa as Minister of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy by President Bola Tinubu has been challenged in the Abuja Federal High Court.
Musawa’s selection as a minister while he was still serving in NYSC was criticized by certain campaigners.
Deji Adeyanju of Concerned Nigerians and Chief Patrick Eholor are two of the people that sparked the lawsuit.
Both of the activists claimed that Musawa’s promotion to minister was unconstitutional.
Musawa’s appointment as a federal minister during her mandated NYSC service has recently come under fire from several Nigerians.
Nonetheless, Adeyanju issued a statement saying, “We wish to inform members of the general public and Concerned Nigeria that the trio of veteran activists, in Deji Adeyanju through civil rights groups Concerned Nigerians and Chief Patrick Eholor has instituted a lawsuit challenging the illegality of the appointment of Hannatu Musawa as a federal minister.”
Despite the obviousness of her purported participation in the All Progressives Congress, corps member Mrs. Hanatu Musawa was appointed as a federal minister while she was still serving her national service commitment.
“Abuja-based Human Rights lawyer Samuel Ihensekhien Jnr filed the suit on behalf of Deji Adeyanju and Chief, Dr. Patrick Eholor in the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, in suit No FHC/ABJ/CS /1198/2023, against the President of Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation, and Hannatu Musawa.”
In response to the lawsuit, Barrister Samuel Ihensekhien, who represents Adeyanju and Eholor, stated:
A youth corps member, like Mrs. Hanatu Musawa in this case, is not competent to contest any election in Nigeria and or engaged in partisan politics, as was made abundantly clear by the Supreme Court’s authoritative statements in the case of Modibbo v Usman decided in 2019. Since the Constitution has prescribed the same qualifications and disqualifications for election into the House of Representatives and appointment into the post of Minister, a person just like Mrs Hanatu, now a federal minister of Nigeria, who has not completed the compulsory one-year youth service, is not competent to be appointed a Minister in Nigeria.
In this regard, the lawsuit requests five separate reliefs and further required consequential injunctions.
Eddy Megwa, the director of press and public relations for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), confirmed that the minister has been serving in the FCT for the past eight months.
A violation of the NYSC act, he said, would occur if a corps member accepted a government position before his or her year of service was complete.
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