Federal high court in Abuja has confirmed the authenticity of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate submitted by Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State.
Gatekeepers News reports that delivering judgement on Monday, Justice Inyang Ekwo also issued an order restraining the NYSC from further disputing the authenticity of the certificate.
The judge’s decision was based on the evidence presented in court, which showed that Governor Mbah duly participated in the one-year NYSC program from 2001 to 2003. It was noted that he had sought and received permission from NYSC to attend the Nigerian Law School.
Justice Ekwo criticized the NYSC for misrepresenting facts in its earlier claim that it did not issue the certificate submitted by Governor Mbah to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the last governorship election.
Furthermore, the judge awarded N5 million in damages to Governor Mbah against the NYSC.
The case arose after Chijioke Edeoga, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), who came second in the Enugu gubernatorial election, filed a petition challenging Governor Mbah’s victory and accused him of forging his NYSC certificate.
In response, Governor Mbah explained that after completing the Nigerian Law School’s bar part 1 program, he was required to wait for the bar part 2 program and was advised to enroll in the one-year NYSC program instead of waiting. He later deferred the NYSC program for six months to complete his bar final exam and successfully remobilized to finish his service.
The NYSC had previously issued a letter stating that Governor Mbah’s certificate was not issued by the corps, leading to his lawsuit against the organization.
