The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has disputed claims by the Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy Hannatu Musawa that she didn’t violate any laws regarding her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.
Recall that the Minister on Sunday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today stated, “I didn’t break the law,” in response to questions regarding the matter.
In the interview, the minister had said, “The matter has 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.
“I think what I owe Nigerians is to say that I didn’t do anything wrong. 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.”
However, in a statement signed by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the organisation disagreed with the minister, adding that she violated the NYSC bye-law by picking up ministerial appointments even as a corps member.
The Rights group said the management of the NYSC confirmed that she was a corps member as at the time of the appointment.
Onwubiko blamed both president Bola Tinubu and the NYSC for allowing the apparent violations of the NYSC bye-law “only because the minister is from a prominent political family and given that she worked vigorously to campaign for Tinubu.”
It also pointed out that under the same NYSC’S bye-law, some corps members from poor homes who wore trousers as part of their uniforms, were sanctioned even as one of the embattled corps members contested her punishment in the competent court of law.
He, therefore, asked the minister to stop disrespecting the intelligence of the good people of Nigeria by defending the indefensible.