A Federal High Court in Abuja has barred the National Youth Service Corps from publishing a disclaimer against Enugu State Governor elect, Peter Mbah. Recall that a petition against Peter Mbah on the claims that the NYSC discharge certificate submitted to the State INEC was forged has been ongoing since last month.
Mbah, who secured the most votes during the State Governorship election held on March 18 and was constitutionally sworn in by the Independent National Electoral Commision is under pressure mainly from a partnership duo of Labour Party candidate, chijioke Edeoga and the PRP candidate Elder christopher Agu to vacate his position over claims that the process that ushered him into the office of the Governor is not credible – stating that Mbah presented a fake NYSC certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission of the State.
The petition filed against Governor elect, Peter Mbah contended that he’s not competent to run for the position of Governor after umpteen claims affirming he forged his NYSC discharge certificate dated January 6, 2003.
The court on Monday restrained the NYSC boss Ibrahim Muhammad from issuing and publishing a disclaimer against Barrister Peter Mbah.
The Judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo who is incharge of the controversial case gave the order while ruling on the motion dated May 4, moved by Emeka Ozoani (SAN) on behalf of the Enugu state governor-elect, who is the applicant in the motion. After hearing Mbah’s counsel, Justice Ekwo granted prayer one on the motion paper for “An order of interim injunction restraining the Defendants and Respondents whether by themselves, their directors, officers, servants, legal representatives, counsel or any other person or persons howsoever described and connected, from issuing, publishing or continued to issue, publish disclaimer to the effect that the NYSC certificate of national service dated 6th January 2003, certificate No. A.808297 issued to the Plaintiff, Barrister Mbah Peter Ndubuisi with Section 11 of the National Youth Service Corps Decree No. 51 of 1993, was not issued by the National Youth Service Corps, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction filed in this suit.”
The trial judge consequently ordered the applicant to serve the defendants with court processes within two days from the day the order was given.
The exparte motion was predicated on ten grounds, one of which is that “The plaintiff states that after graduating in law from the University of East London in 2000, returned to Nigeria and as a prerequisite to practice as Barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, applied and was admitted into the Bar part 1 program of the Nigerian Law School”.
According to the Tribunal, the Governor-elect said upon completing the Bar Part 1 Exam, he waited for the Bar Part 2 program and claimed he was advised to proceed with the one-year mandatory service Corps program over sitting idle.
The plaintiff asserted that he was called up for the NYSC and was deployed initially to Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Apapa Quays for his primary assignment but was rejected by NPA before securing the law firm of Ude & Associates.
“The plaintiff, in the course of his service year and after six months of NYSC, applied and was admitted and given the approval to defer the NYSC program to enable him to complete the Bar final exam.
Thereafter, the plaintiff was re-mobilized to finish the NYSC program, which he did complete,” and upon the completion of the NYSC program, he was issued the certificate of National Service No. A.808297 dated 6th January 2003.
According to the article published by News Cross dated June 4, 2023, it disclosed that NYSC responded to the Governor elect of Enugu State; distancing themselves from the results paraded by Peter Mbah – asserting that such certificate did not emanate from them.
Part of the publication by the New Cross reads:
“In a deposition at the Federal High Court, Abuja, deposed to by the Assistant Director in the Corps Certification Department, Mrs. Rhoda Dawa, it was revealed that the discharge certificate that Governor Mbah claimed was issued to him did not emanate from the NYSC.
Documents submitted to the court by the NYSC to prove that the Enugu State governor may have submitted a forged discharge certificate include, the alleged forged certificate Mbah submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, a photocopy of the original copy of the certificate that was to be issued to Mbah, a date sheet showing where discharged corps members signed for their certificates, another data sheet with the names of unclaimed certificates, official circulars authorising the destruction of unclaimed certificates, photographs of the incineration of the unclaimed discharge certificates, samples of the NYSC discharge certificates during the period the governor was supposed to have performed his compulsory national service, Police and Directorate of State Services letters of investigation, among others.
Governor Mbah had, in his court filings, claimed that he duly completed his national youth service and was given a certificate of discharge, and had taken the NYSC to court, claiming N20 billion for what he described as conspiracy, deceit, and misrepresentation of facts. Apart from N20 billion damages, Mbah is seeking a declaration that he participated in the NYSC scheme for one calendar year via a call-up letter numbered FRN/2001/800351 with the Lagos code LA/01/1532. He also argued that the declaration must state that he was issued a certificate of national service numbered A808297 upon completing his service year in 2003.
But contrary to these claims, the NYSC, in its deposition, insisted that the Enugu State governor did not complete his service year and that the certificate of discharge he paraded was not issued by the body.”
Another source antagonized Mbah’s claim, stating that the governor elect reports contradict each other:
“Mba’s claim is that between July and September 2003 he was carrying on his NYSC in the Law firm of Victor Ude. That claim is indisputably destroyed by these two documents, a letter of appointment as Chief of Staff to then Governor Chimaroke Nnamani with effect from 14th July 2003 and the second document, a certified charge sheet by EFCC charging Peter Mba in August 2003 for money laundering offences committed obviously in July 2003, in the first few days of his assumption of office as Chief of Staff. His current Chief of Staff Victor Ude was his co-accused in that money laundering charge and in the rest of the charges that involved the looting of billions of Naira being monies taken away from the coffers of Enugu state.”
