Peter Mbah’s discharge certificate was not issued by us, says NYSC DG

 Yisha’u Ahmed, director-general of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), says the scheme is not responsible for the discharge certificate controversy surrounding Peter Mbah, the Enugu governor-elect. 

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 conspiracy, deceit, and misrepresentation of facts, demanding N20 billion in compensation.

The governor-elect also sought a declaration that the scheme and its director for corps certification “conspired by fraudulent design, suppressed, and misrepresented facts” in voiding his certificate of national service.

Reacting to the situation in a chat with Arise TV on Friday, the NYSC DG said he had met with Mbah and “I was frank with him, and I told him this certificate is not from us”.

Ahmed said NYSC was yet to receive a court order or document confirming the suit by the Enugu governor-elect.

“This case is in court, and I may not want to say much but let me tell you the issue you are talking about. The person came to the NYSC for verification, and he was told the certificate is not issued from us,” he said.

“I wonder how the issue of racketeering would come up when you are talking about an elite: somebody who is a graduate and well-enlightened. Where did you obtain your certificate? You do not know how we issue our certificate? You cannot go and collect certificates on the street or in a hotel, you should know better.

“The governor-elect is a lawyer. I am not a lawyer, but I know as the DG of NYSC, I’m fully aware of this case. He came to me, I was frank with him, and I told him this certificate was not from us, However, he chose to go to court and sue. But as far as I’m concerned NYSC has not been sued. I’m just hearing about it. I have not seen a court order.”

In March, Mbah won the Enugu governorship election with 160,895 votes while Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party (LP), had 157,552 votes.