The Family Ties That Still Bind Hannatu Musawa

She named her daughter after his grandmother. In Nigerian high society, that detail speaks louder than any divorce decree ever could.

Hannatu Musawa, Nigeria’s Minister of Art and Culture, recently discussed her past marriage to industrialist Abdul Samad Rabiu. In a January 2026 podcast interview, her reflections were notably devoid of acrimony. Instead, she framed Rabiu as family, a protector, and her “greatest cheerleader.”

Their connection is inextricable, woven from over thirty years of shared history. Both hail from intertwined families in Kano.

This bedrock of mutual heritage has allowed their relationship to metamorphose gracefully beyond its original form.

She offered tangible proof of this continuity. Her daughter bears the name Khadija, honouring Rabiu’s grandmother, Hajiya Bua. Musawa still refers to Rabiu’s mother as her own. These are not casual nods to the past but active testaments to a living bond.

Publicly, Rabiu is the formidable BUA Group chairman. Privately, Musawa painted a portrait of a “genuinely kind-hearted” supporter. She views their marriage not as a failure, but as a foundational juncture that shaped her path to public service.

In Nigeria’s elite circles, divorces usually arrive with silence, careful distance, or public hostility. What makes this case unusual is the absence of all three. The relationship did not retreat into formality; it remained visible, functional, and emotionally intelligible to those watching closely.

That continuity matters because Musawa’s public life now unfolds under national scrutiny. The Rabiu name still appears in her family choices, her language, and her sense of belonging.

But it is not nostalgia. What it is is evidence that some personal alliances survive change by reordering themselves, rather than disappearing.