By Angela Atabo
Labour Party Coalition for True Democracy on Saturday called for the need for Nigerians to protect the sanctity of the certificate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from fraudulent politicians .
Mr Ken Asogwa, Spokesman of the coalition made the call at a news conference in Abuja .
According to Asogwa ,Nigerians need to stand up in defence of NYSC to curb the trend of proliferation of fake certificates from strange quarters other than NYSC.
He said that politicians who didn’t service are manipulating the system to get certificate, hence the sanctity of the certificate is eroding.
He alleged that politicians have formed the habit of printing fake certificates in the bid to achieve their political ambitions ,an act that ridicules NYSC .
He alleged that a case in point was that of the Enugu state Gov. Peter Mbah whose NYSC’s certificate authentic was in doubt .
“It is this desperation that has led him to different courts in both Enugu and Abuja where he has made efforts to procure black market judgements to forestall the inquiry into how he procured the fake NYSC discharge certificate that he parades.
“In one of such desperate moves by Mbah, he made attempts to gag the NYSC by getting a pliant judge to issue him with a black market order that sought to abridge and erode the powers of the Enugu State Governorship Election Tribunal and the NYSC, constitutionally created bodies, from carrying out their statutory and constitutional functions.
“Since the revelation by the NYSC and its Director-General that the newly sworn-in governor of Enugu State, Mbah, parades a forged NYSC discharge certificate, the governor has launched a syndicated campaign of calumny against the NYSC and its Director-General.
“At a time the NYSC is celebrating 50 years of unblemished existence and service to Nigerians, Peter Mbah should be restrained by all well-meaning Nigerians before he destroys that revered institution.”
Asogwa alleged that Mbah has had several criminal records in the past and the recent one highlighted it .
“Currently, Peter Mbah is back in his elements, trying to destroy both the judiciary and the NYSC in a desperate bid to foist himself on the Enugu people who rejected him at the poll.
“In taking you back to memory lane, you make recall that Mbah’s NYSC saga blew open after the NYSC’s response to a Freedom of Information inquiry by a law firm into the validity of the discharge certificate Mr. Mbah submitted to the INEC.
“When the NYSC responded and repudiated the certificate, a non-governmental organisation brought a direct criminal complaint of forgery of NYSC Certificate against Mbah at the Zone 6 Magistrate Court.
” The court thereafter ordered the AIG Zone 7 to carry out investigation on the authenticity of the said NYSC Certificate. The AIG, on his part, wrote to the NYSC to confirm the authenticity of the said NYSC Certificate.”
According to Asogwa, as can be gleaned from court filings made by the NYSC in response to Mbah’s suit against the Corps, it was evident that the NYSC had long responded to the Police inquiry by sending a letter that equally repudiated the discharge certificate to the office of the Inspector General of Police.
” Why the police have chosen not to respond to the order of the Wuse Magistrate Court’s order still bears the hallmark of Mbah’s pattern of comprising every institution, “he said
Asogwa therefore, urged Nigerians not to standby and allow one desperate fellow to destroy the integrity of a national institution that has served Nigeria well since 1973.
He said that NYSC needed the collective protection of Nigerians from desperate power politicians who acquired notoriety for the destruction of anything that stands in the way of their inordinate ambition.