Hannatu Musawa: Me Worried about Cabinet Reshuffle? I Campaigned for the President and I Trust His Judgement

By Ibukun John

Jolted by the Presidency’s hint that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will soon rejig his cabinet, dropping dead woods in the team for fresh blood and brain, several ministers have been jostling for headlines, bombarding the media with their performance sheets.

No crime. They are just heeding the advice by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, that they should blow their trumpets lest they would continue to wink in the dark.

The latest of such Ministers is the delectable Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Ms. Hannatu Musawa, a lawyer, who boldly declared on prime-time television, on Sunday, that she was not losing any sleep over the impending cabinet reshuffle.

She was guest of Seun Okinbaloye on Channel Television’s flagship political programme, Sunday Politics.

When the anchor asked the Minister whether she was worried that the President may drop her from his cabinet because of the “controversies” around her person, the minister said:

“I don’t think there is a controversy about my person, and I don’t think there is a controversy about my office. What I can tell you is that I campaigned for the President and I trust his judgement.

“What I know of the President is that he has a vision and a mission to make Nigeria better than he met it. He is a very courageous man. As a leader, you have to take courageous decisions.

“For him to give Nigerians his deliverables, he needs a team of lieutenants to do that. I think it is healthy in any democracy and any administration for him to look at his cabinet and his lieutenants to see who are working in tandem with him to give those deliverables and if anybody isn’t, I think we have to trust his judgement.

“So, I am not worried because I know that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the best interest of the nation and whatever he would make in terms of the restructuring or otherwise of his cabinet is going to be in the best interest of delivering his mission and vision for Nigerians.”

Talking about controversy, Ms. Hannatu Musawa, who holds a law degree from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, has had a high dose of it.

The Minister holds two Master’s degrees according to her profile on her Linked-in page. According to the profile, she has “a Postgraduate Masters Degree in the Legal Aspects of Marine Affairs from the University of Cardiff, Wales. She also has a Postgraduate Masters Degree in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Aberdeen” with varied working experiences in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

But she hit the headlines and found herself in the eye of the storm during her screening by the senate as a ministerial nominee last year. She couldn’t produce the evidence of completing the mandatory one-year national youth service-Discharge Certificate.

Her failure to produce her discharge certificate induced national outrage as many Nigerians considered her working as a graduate without national service as alien to the law establishing the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC.

Musawa’s confirmation by the Senate without the evidence of her national service triggered a national outrage as some aggrieved Nigerians headed to court to challenge what they considered an aberration.

They lost. In throwing out the case last April, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, held that the plaintiffs lacked locus standi to institute the suit.

On Sunday, and one year after her appointment as Minister, Seun Okinbaloye asked Ms. Musawa how she felt about the “controversies” surrounding her person, particularly her not submitting her NYSC discharge certificate.

The Minister told her interviewer that she wasn’t ready to discuss the issue and anytime she decides to offer a response on what actually happened, she would be vindicated.

“I don’t know what you have heard,” Musawa began. “There have been so many different accounts of that particular situation. The fact that I am sitting here means that I didn’t do anything wrong. But I have not come out to set the record straight as to what happened. The social media has just run rife with different accounts.

“The matter had been adjudicated and one day, I will come out with my account. I have probably done more NYSC than you (presenter). I have done at least two NYSCs in my life.”

Still the anchor would not quit. He pressed further, asking the Minister why she was parrying the question, reminding her that she owed Nigerians an explanation because of the exalted office she holds in trust for them.

“I think what I owe Nigerians is to say that I didn’t do anything wrong,” the Minister declared. “I didn’t break the law. The NYSC I did and finished. That is the much I can tell you. Everything I did was by the law.

“That was why I also said that one day I would come out with my account of what happened to set the record straight. As of now, I think it is important for me to focus on giving Nigerians the deliverables.”

Minister Musawa would also not confirm or deny whether she went back to complete the youth service while occupying the office of Minister.