Disquiet In Enugu After DG Disowns Governor-Elect Mbah’s NYSC Certificate

The denial and subsequent accusation by the director general of the National Youth Service Corps that the corps did not issue the NYSC certificate of Enugu governor-elect, Peter Mba, has led to an uneasy calm in the state.

While some commentators accused NYSC of insincerity, others said the court should be allowed to determine the case.

A lawyer, George Ike, said, “Mba has gone to court to prove that NYSC actually issued his certificate. It seems bizarre, but who knows if NYSC committed the error. In law, all sides are given equal opportunities. But it might spell doom if Mba intends to mislead the public to be sworn in, thinking that he could hide under the cloak of immunity.”

Chinedu Nwode, a PDP stalwart, described the development as a puzzle. He told our correspondent that, “If Mba completed his NYSC in Jan. 2003, as his discharge certificate indicates, why did he apply for remobilisation in May 2003? And was he Chimaroke’s chief of staff (from June 2003) and ‘serving his fatherland’ at the same time? And doing his Bar Part II simultaneously?

“The registration number on his certificate is another puzzle: the number on the certificates of those who served from Jan. 2002 to Jan. 2003 in Lagos starts with 6, not 8!”

Our correspondent reports that Mba served as chief of staff to former governor Chimaroke Nnamani beginning from 2003.

Meanwhile, the state Peoples Democratic Party has also accused NYSC of wrong presentation of facts about Mba’s certificate.

Nana Ogbodo, a lawyer, is the director of communications/spokesperson,
Enugu State PDP Campaign Council. He faulted the claim by the DG of NYSC, Brig Gen Yusha’u Dogara Ahmed, that Mba was told by the scheme that his discharge certificate was not issued by NYSC.

Ogbodo described Friday’s statement by the NYSC DG on Arise TV show on Mba’s certificate as ‘the agency’s conspiracy, deceit, and wilful misrepresentation of facts, which necessitated Mbah’s N20bn lawsuit against it’.

Ogbodo stated that it was ironical that the DG made his position known when the matter was in court, describing it as a contempt of court.

In his words, “The NYSC DG, Brigadier-General Yushau’u Dogara Ahmed, has not said anything new, as his statements were in sync with the continued conspiracy, deceit, and wilful misrepresentation of facts by the agency and its director of corps certification, Mr Ibrahim Muhammad.

“The DG lied when he claimed that he told Mba during a meeting in his office that the NYSC did not issue his certificate. The truth is that he told Mba that the director in question neither briefed nor cleared with him before issuing the letter dated February 1, 2023 disclaiming Mba’s discharge certificate.

“He equally expressed surprise when Mba showed him the letter by the NYSC national headquarters dated 7th May 2003 (reference number NYSC/DHQ/CM/27/20) to the state director, Lagos, NYSC, re-mobilising him for the remaining part of his service year after a break, by the express and written permission of the agency, to complete Bar Part II (Bar Final).

“It is noteworthy that the directors and staff present at the meeting did not deny that the NYSC authored the letter re-mobilising Mba, while his place of primary assignment, Udeh & Associates, Lagos, has not denied that it authored the letter reabsorbing him to complete the remaining months of his service year as well as the final clearance letter to enable him to receive his NYSC discharge certificate at the end of his service.

“The DG actually told Mba that he was barely three months in office at the time, but would resolve the matter with dispatch. But it is striking that NYSC is yet to formally respond to Mba’s petition since February 2, 2023. Instead, the NYSC, through its director of corps certification, has continued to issue letters of disclaimer to various political interests in Enugu State, in clear contempt of a subsisting court judgment upholding the authenticity of his certificate and in relentless disparagement of his reputation.”

Recall that NYSC DG accused Mba, during the TV show, of possessing a fake discharge certificate. Brig Ahmed stated that, “He (Mba) came to me and I called my director to confirm the certificate and we discovered that the certificate was fake and I told him.

“I wonder how elites who have gone to school will resort to black market certificates. Everyone knows how we issue our certificate in NYSC. We don’t give it in hotel rooms or houses.”

THE WHISTLER reported that the petition of Labour Party’s gubernatorial candidate in the state, Barr Chijioke Edeoga, among others, was that Mba’s NYSC certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission was fake. The inaugural hearing of the petition began yesterday at the state election petition tribunal, Independence Layout, Enugu.