FACT CHECK: Was Tinubu’s Minister Hannatu Musawa, the Lady in a Video Dancing and Smoking at a Party?

FACT CHECK: Was Tinubu’s Minister Hannatu Musawa, the Lady in a Video Dancing and Smoking at a Party? 

Claim: A viral video shared mostly on Whatsapp platforms claim that, a woman shown dancing and smoking in a party was Hannatu Musawa, the Minister of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy that was recently appointed by President Bola Tinubu.

Full Text: The video was shared with the following text, “ Tinubu’s Minister of Arts, culture and Creative economy, Hannatu Musawa celebrating her appointment at an event somewhere in Nigeria.” 

The following blogs on TikTok have circulated the video with similar texts.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMjN68Msy/ 

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMjN6LSxy/ 

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMjN68EfG/ 

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMjN6FJ3m/ 

https://www.exola.net.ng/2023/08/nigeria-minister-of-art-and.html?m=1 

The video generated a lot of traffic and mixed reactions from viewers. 

Based on those comments, many users believe the claim that the person in the video was the Minister while some others found it difficult to believe. 

“This one na minister of tiger gen,” says one user while another reacted, “she is not the one, lies everywhere.” 

Verification: In order to verify if the person in the video is Hannatu Musawa, PRNigeria took a screenshot of the person in the video and compared it against the publicly known portrait of the minister. 

Apart from.the fact that there is no facial resemblance between the two persons,their skin tones and body types are also different. While the lady dancing in the vide has a visible neck tattoo, Hannatu Musawa does not have the feature.

The PRNigeria team then traced the origin of the video to a Tik Tok user Dior__imperial. 

A careful review of the page shows that it belonged to an event blogger who posts updates on events in Lagos. Most of the events have celebrities and popular personalities in attendance who are mostly tagged.

The Fact Checkers took other clues from the clips of the same event and discovered that it was a wedding that took place in Lagos, Nigeria and the person in the video was just a guest at the party.

The original video was posted on the event bloggers page on the 30th of August at 8:15pm with a caption that reads as follows, “this moment though, there is fire on stage and not on the mountain.” 

However, PRNigeria could not independently identify who the person in the video was. 

A review of the official social media sites of the minister, reveals that Hannatu was actively involved in ministerial activities in Abuja.

One of the minister’s post on the day the video was uploaded, states thus: “Yesterday, I attended the inaugural Federal Executive  Council which was held at the Executive chamber of the State house, Abuja”

Other posts suggest that she had been in Abuja all week long, granting interviews and attending executive meetings and events.

Conclusion: Based on the facts gathered by PRNigeria Fact Check Team, the video which allegedly shows a woman dancing and smoking in a party is not Hannatu Musawa, the Tinubu’s Minister of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy as claimed. 

PRNigeria therefore concludes that the claim is MISLEADING and FALSE. 

By PRNigeria