Prominent Nigerians, Groups Who’ve Asked For Probe Of Adeosun’s NYSC Certificate Scandal

It’s been more than three weeks since online newspaper Premium Times exclusively published a report detailing how finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, skipped the mandatory national youth service and allegedly used a forged certificate to cover for it.

Contrary to the requirement that every Nigerian below the age of 30 should participate in a mandatory year-long national service, upon graduation from the university or any other institution of similar status, it has been alleged that the minister did not only evade the service, but also presented a forged certificate to show that she was fittingly exempted.

Details of the grimy story indicate that the person purported to have signed the exemption certificate in September 2009 had already retired from service by January of the same year.

The story has generated outrage from Nigerians who called for an official investigation and asked the minister to resign from her post or be fired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

More troubling, is the deafening silence that has enshrouded the allegation from the minister and her principal, President Buhari, to say the least.

For about 22 days now since the story broke, comments have been coming from diverse sources, calling on the government and Adeosun to come clean about the scandal, but the calls have fallen on deaf ears.

The NYSC has said that Adeosun actually applied for exemption but has not stated whether it was granted, while the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said he had nothing to say outside of what the NYSC had said.

Many have been wondering how possible it is for the minister to be given an exemption on account of her age, as she purportedly claimed, when she reportedly graduated in 1989 at the age of 22? How did a person that retired from service in January still sign a certificate that is dated September?

Also, some prominent Nigerians and groups have equally joined the growing list of bodies that have called for the minister to step down and be probed.

For example, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged Adeosun to clear the air over the allegations, as according to them would show a commitment to doing the right thing as a public official.

The statement issued by SERAP’s deputy director, Timothy Adewale, read: “Suspicions of certificate forgery involving a senior member of the government if not urgently and satisfactorily addressed would weaken public trust in the government’s oft-expressed commitment to transparency and accountability.

“Several days after being accused of forging her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate, Mrs Adeosun is yet to make any official statement in reaction to the alleged scandal.

“Clarifying the allegations of certificate forgery would show a commitment to doing the right thing, and a natural disposition toward openness. The continuing failure and/or refusal to speak to Nigerians on these allegations amounts to a betrayal of public trust. If she can show the courage to clear the air on the allegations, Mrs Adeosun can be a strong promoter of the values of transparency and accountability, something which the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has regularly expressed commitment to embrace and achieve.

A non-governmental organisation, Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resource Centre, petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, calling for the probe of the minister, noting that she should be prosecuted should the forgery allegation be established.

Equally, the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative, a civil society group, had written to the minister, urging her to clarify the allegations of forgery.

The group, in the letter signed jointly by its National Coordinator Amb. Solomon Adodo and Deputy National Secretary Suleiman Musa, expressed worry that the allegations may pose a distraction to the anti-corruption stance of the Buhari-led government.

Co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) support group, Aisha Yesufu, on her part, lampooned President Buhari for his perceived silence over the controversy, adding that the President “has redefined the word Integrity”.

Following the allegation, the Peoples Democratic Party described the Buhari-led administration as “a haven of fraudsters, common thieves and persons of questionable characters”.

Some others are of the opinion that President Buhari’s track record of dragging his heels over matters of impropriety concerning members of his close circle of aides, as was the case with Babachir Lawal, may see him treat the Adeosun saga with similar approach.

It took quite a while for the President to make up his mind after the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation was alleged to have siphoned millions of naira in the award of contracts worth N220 million for the clearing of grass in the internally displaced people’s camp.