Peter Mbah and the rot in NYSC ~ by Law Mefor

If the recent report on the investigation by the Department of State Security (DSS) into the discharge certificate feud between the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State surprised anyone, it wasn’t me.

Even though I was of the view that both parties should be allowed to prove their respective case, NYSC’s story never looked straight to me, especially knowing the ineptitude, underhand practices, endemic corruption, shoddiness, and the poor and analog record keeping that have become the hallmarks of most of our public institutions.

As a psychologist, my field of study teaches me that there is always a motive for every crime. And I have been wondering what the motivation could be for Mbah. If his profile is anything to go by, then he was already a multimillionaire before heading to the UK to study Law.

So, he was never in the unemployment market where he needed the NYSC to secure a job.

Two, it is settled by the courts that one doesn’t need an NYSC discharge certificate to hold a public office. Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) spells out the qualifications for the office of the governor, and the NYSC discharge certificate is not one of them.

So, I wonder why he would submit a supposedly forged NYSC discharge certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when, in fact, he didn’t need it.

Furthermore, Proverbs 28:1 says the righteous are bold as a lion. The audacity with which Mbah has faced the NYSC and its Director-General, Brig. Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed does not suggest one who has something to hide.

Rather than shop for the proverbial soft landing, Mbah has instead slammed a N20 billion lawsuit on the NYSC.

In the lawsuit marked FHC/ABJ/09/611/2023, he seeks a declaration that he participated in the NYSC scheme for one calendar year and that NYSC and its Director of Corps Certification, Ibrahim Muhammad “conspired by fraudulent design, suppressed, and misrepresented facts in supposition” that his discharge certificate with serial number A808297 is fake.

He also seeks a declaration that the predominant purpose is to inflict damages in his legal profession, politics, and business. One interesting fact about Mbah’s lawsuit is his meticulousness in record keeping, even far better than the NYSC.

Mbah kept and filed everything:

●His call-up letter and deployment to Lagos State,

●meal tickets in the camp,

●posting letter to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA),

●rejection letter by the NPA,

●reposting letter to Udeh & Associates,

●his letter to NYSC DG seeking a suspension of his service to go for his Bar Final programme,

●DG’s approval letter,

●his handwritten letter seeking to return to complete his service year after the programme, pictures, and letter dated 7th May 2003 (with reference number NYSC/DHQ/CM/27/20) directing the Lagos State Director of the agency to “re-instate the corps member to continue his service year from where he stopped, with effect from May 2003”. To “reinstate” instead of “remobilise” means that his service number remains unchanged.

Curiously, rather than seize the opportunity to nail Mbah, the NYSC resorted to a preliminary objection. It told the court that Mbah should have petitioned the presidency first to seek a resolution before approaching the court.

However, Section 20 of the NYSC Act doesn’t apply to Mbah since he is neither a serving Corps member nor an employee of the NYSC. Section 20 is a follow-up to Section 19, which refers to members of the service and other persons employed or undertaking any project for the NYSC.

Also, NYSC’s evidence at the Enugu State Governorship Petition Tribunal was an anti-climax because it ended up affirming virtually everything Mbah had said about his national service and discharge certificate.

In his Statement on Oath and evidence before the tribunal, the subpoenaed witness and Director of Corps Certification, Ibrahim Muhammad, averred the following:

“That Mr. Mbah Peter Ndubuisi was mobilised and deployed to Lagos State by the NYSC for the compulsory national service vide a call-up letter dated 7th January 2002, with Serial No. 0134613 and Reference No. NYSC/FRN/2001/890351.

“That in Lagos, Mbah Peter Ndubuisi, upon completion of his orientation course, was initially posted to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) for his primary assignment but was rejected.

“That the NYSC Office in Lagos reposted him to the Law Firm of Udeh & Associates, Lagos.

“That by letter dated 20th June 2002, Mbah Peter Ndubuisi applied to the Director-General of the NYSC for deferment of his service, to enable him to attend the Nigerian Law School.

“That after completion of his Law School Programme, Mbah Peter Ndubuisi applied to the DG of NYSC vide letter dated 03/4/2003 for re-mobilisation for national service, to enable him to complete his NYSC programme.

“That by letter referenced NYSC/DHQ/CM/M/27/20, dated 7th May 2003, the DG NYSC wrote to the Lagos Director of the NYSC to reinstate Mbah Peter Ndubuisi to continue his service year from where he had stopped, with effect from May 2003, to terminate in September 2003.

“That upon return, Mbah Peter Ndubuisi was posted to the Law Firm of Udeh & Associates, Lagos again, for completion of his primary assignment, with probable date of discharge on 15th September 2003”.

NYSC’s major point of departure is in paragraph 14 (i) where it states that “there was no record of the completion of Mbah Peter Ndubuisi’s primary assignment, because he stopped attending the compulsory weekly community service in Lagos, which is one of the cardinal programmes of the NYSC”, adding that he “was consequently not cleared as having completed the NYSC programme and therefore no Discharge Certificate was issued to him”.

But, guess what, NYSC didn’t tender any register where other Corps members signed and Mbah failed to sign.