CSOs ask NYSC to apologise to Mbah over discharge certificate controversy

A group of 500 civil society organisations (CSOs) under the aegis of Civic Room, has given the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) a seven-day ultimatum to compensate and tender a public apology to Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu state, over allegations of forgery.

BACKGROUND

Mbah has been in a row with the NYSC over the authenticity of his discharge certificate.

The Enugu governor had claimed that after graduating from the University of East London in 2000, he returned to Nigeria and was admitted into the bar part 1 programme of the Nigerian law school.

He said he was required to wait for the bar part 2 programme upon completing the first leg and was told to enroll in the one-year NYSC programme instead of wasting time sitting around.

After six months of NYSC, Mbah applied and was granted approval to defer the one-year mandatory programme to enable him to complete the bar final exam, after which he was re-mobilised to finish the service, which he did complete, Emeka Ozoani, his lawyer, told a court.

However, in February, NYSC issued a letter signed by Ibrahim Muhammad, the scheme’s director of certifications, saying the certificate belonging to Mbah was not issued by the corps.

Consequently, Mbah sued NYSC for what he described as misrepresentation of facts, demanding N20 billion in compensation.

Grace Adesola, executive director of Civic Room, in a statement on Thursday said the NYSC would witness massive protests if it fails to compensate and apologise to the Enugu governor.

“As critical stakeholders with an incredible penchant for facts, we refrained from making comments as we wanted to investigate the true position of things,”Adesola said.

“Thankfully, Mbah has been sworn in and has already hit the ground running. He is focused on fulfilling promises he made to his people and is not bothered by the NYSC and its gimmicks.

“However, we won’t let sleeping dogs lie. We believe every government institution should be held accountable for its failures and praised for its successes. It is on this note that we are demanding that the NYSC leadership compensate Mbah.

“They must also tender an apology to the gentleman in any of the national dailies. These should be done in the next seven days else the NYSC would witness massive protests for the next week at its headquarters.

“We are also by this notice warning the NYSC to refrain from further campaigns of calumny against Mbah, his administration, and the good people of Enugu state.”