In the last few weeks, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate has become a topical issue as a result of widespread forgery and fraudulent issuance.
The situation has become so horrible that a civil society organization, the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), recently called on Nigerians to fulfill their core patriotic duty by defending public institutions, particularly the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
CLO said in Abuja that the call was born out of the increasing assault by the ruling political elites in Nigeria to undermine the independence and sanctity of public institutions due to their primitive and unpatriotic desires.
Indeed, there is no gain saying the fact that some public office holders in the country are involved in forgery of public documents, including educational results and NYSC discharge certificates. The NYSC Act contains all the infractions that people should know about. They are many, like forging the NYSC certificates.
Ironically, people that are supposed to go for national youth service as specified in the Act are not coming for youth service while those that are supposed to come for service will do but will not complete it and abscond.
Even some attend the orientation camps with forged documents. This year alone, more than 30 prospective corps members have been arrested at various orientation camps. If found guilty by the court, they are likely to be jailed for a period of two years or more depending on the type of offence or given an option of fine or both jail term and fine.
Unfortunately, rather than condemn this dastardly act, some powerful individuals are challenging anyone, including the courts that dare to question these nefarious actions.
Two of such festering cases yet to be resolved are those involving the current Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Peter Mbah and the serving Honourable Minister of .Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Ms Hannatu Musawa. The case of the later is disturbing as she was a serving Corp member before her appointment as a Minister by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And she us still a serving youth corps member even as a minister. Her case has instigated unnecessary debate by some lawyers and Nigerians despite her defecation of the altar of justice.
The lawyers who are defending her appointment relied on the provisions of Section 147 of the 1999 constitution, particularly Sub-Section 5, which states that no person shall be appointed as a Minister of the Government of the Federation unless he/she is qualified for election as a member of the House of Representatives.
The question is, what are the qualifications for election into the House of Representatives? This I find in Section 106 of the constitution, which states: “ a candidate must be a citizen of Nigeria, must have attained the age of 25 years, and must have been educated up to at least, a school certificate level or its equivalent. He/she must be a member of a political party and must be sponsored by that political party”.
The same constitution also makes it mandatory for any university graduate in Nigeria to possess the NYSC discharge certificate. This presents a moral burden on Ms. Musawa who should reject the appointment and resign her position immediately. In the event that she fails to resign her appointment, President Tinubu should invoke his powers under the constitution to immediately withdraw her appointment. In the alternative, the Senate should on resumption from the current recess, reverse her confirmation.
In the case of the Enugu Governor Peter Mbah, the NYSC has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the certificate the Governor parades was not issued by them, yet Nigerians have watched as the Governor keeps launching orchestrated judicial onslaughts and media campaigns of calumny against the NYSC.
Last Thursday in Enugu, the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal turned justice on its head when it dismissed the case of forgery of NYSC certificate instituted against Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State by Hon Chijioke Edeoga. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on 22 March, declared Mbah, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the 18 March governorship election in the state. Mbah was said to have polled 160,895 votes to defeat his closest challenger and the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, who scored 157,552 votes. The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Frank Nweke Jnr, garnered 17,983 votes to come third, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Uche Nnaji, came fourth, with 14,575 votes.
Edeoga had filed a petition at the tribunal challenging the victory of Mbah, now governor. Among the grounds of the petition by the LP candidate was that Mbah’s election should be voided for submitting a forged discharge certificate from the NYSC. He also raised issues of overvoting and manipulation of election results by INEC officials in collaboration with Mbah
While delivering judgment on Thursday, a three-member tribunal headed by Kudirat Akano dismissed the petition for being incompetent.
The tribunal held that the petitioner, Edeoga, failed to prove his allegation that the PDP candidate, Peter Mbah, submitted forged certificate to INEC.
The tribunal ruled that the NYSC discharge certificate, “assuming it was indeed forged” was not among the requirements for the qualifications of a person for the office of the governor in line with Sections 177 and 138 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
It held that Mbah was qualified to contest the election even without submitting any NYSC discharge certificate, adding that a Senior Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent is a minimum academic qualification for election for the office of the governor in line with Section 177 of the constitution.
The tribunal said given that Mbah did not submit the certificate in “aid of his qualification” for the office, his election could not be voided on the grounds of non-qualification.
Mba’s claim is that between July and September 2003 he did his NYSC in the Law firm of Victor Ude & CO. But that claim is indisputably destroyed by two documents, a letter of appointment as Chief of Staff to then Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu state with effect from 14th July 2003 and the second document, a certified charge sheet by EFCC charging Peter Mba in August 2003 for money laundering offences committed obviously in July 2003, in the first few days of his assumption of office as Chief of Staff. His current Chief of Staff Victor Ude was his co- accused in that money laundering charge and in the rest of the charges that involved the alleged looting of billions of Naira being money taken away from the coffers of Enugu state.
As citizens are treated to this macabre drama orchestrated by Governor Mba against the NYSC, it is important to draw public attention to a settled case as espoused recently by the Supreme Court in Oyetola Vs Adeleke that it is only the issuing authority of a certificate that has the sole authority to validate or repudiate the certificate issued by that authority
Hence, if the Court of Appeal and the Supreme courts on whose doorsteps lies the restoration of the dignity of the judiciary as far as this matter is concerned fails to deliver justice in the case and allow Mbah to walk away a free man without convincing proof of how he obtained his NYSC certificate, it would signpost the death of NYSC scheme in Nigeria
It Is unfortunate that certificate forgery is perpetrated by persons at the highest levels of government – persons that should ordinarily protect the integrity and sanctity of the certificates
It is however note worthy that in the 50 years of its existence, the NYSC has sustained its integrity and remained consistent with its records of achievements and service to the nation.
Its recent demonstration of exemplary courage and fairness in the discharge of its duties and responsibilities by refusing to be cowed by the barbaric intimidations of politicians with fat wallets is heartwarming and must be applauded by all
I equally welcome the ongoing move by the NYSC and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to develop a block-chain technology that would make it easy for employers and indeed Nigerians to authenticate NYSC certificates from the comfort of their homes and offices. When operational, it would address growing concerns over fraudulent issuance and forgery of NYSC certificates as well as enhance transparency in certificate issuance process and strengthen the integrity and validity of NYSC certificates.
By Obinna F. Nwachukwu