A worrisome lawsuit, filed by Human rights activist and Convener of Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju and others, has piled more pressure on President Bola Tinubu to drop his embattled Youth-Corper Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa.
It had been recently revealed that Musawa, a lawyer by training, is a serving member of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) and therefore may not be qualified to be a minister of the Federal Republic.
The suit, with No FHC/ABJ/CS /1198/2023, was filed at the Federal High Court, in Abuja on Wednesday, to challenge the “illegality of the appointment of Hannatu Musawa as a federal minister.”
Other activists who joined in filing the suit were Chief Patrick Eholor and Barrister Samuel Ihensekhien.
They argued that Musawa, serving as an NYSC member, cannot at the same time serve as the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, quoting a cöear supreme court judgement to support their position. Which makes the case worrisome for President Tinubu.
Adeyanu, in a statement alongside the court document, shared with the media said, “It is now so crystal clear from the authoritative pronouncements of the Supreme Court in the case of Modibbo vs Usman decided in 2019, that a youth Corps member is not competent to contest any election in Nigeria and or engaged in partisan politics like Mrs Hanaatu Musawa in this case.”.
“We wish to inform members of the general public and concerned Nigeria that the trio of veteran activists, in Deji Adeyanju, Chief Patrick Eholor, and Samuel Ihensekhien have instituted a lawsuit challenging the illegality of the appointment of Hannatu Musawa as a federal minister,” the statement partly read.
“In the same vein, a person just like Mrs Hannatu Musawa 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 since the Constitution has prescribed the same qualifications and disqualifications for election into the House of Representatives and appointment into the post of a Minister.”
“The suit is seeking for five distinct reliefs and other ancillary/mandatory consequential injunctions in this regard.”
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