The Federal High Court in Abuja has awarded N5 million in damages against the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for falsely alleging that Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State had a fake discharged certificate.
In his judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo found the Director General of the NYSC and the corps guilty of misrepresentation of material facts.
The judge ruled that the certificate presented by Governor Mbah to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was genuine and validly issued by the NYSC.
The court also noted that Governor Mbah had been mobilized for service in 2001 but completed his service in 2003 after temporarily leaving to attend the Nigeria Law School. He was reinstated into the NYSC in 2003.
Additionally, the court mentioned that the evidence of Mbah’s service at a law firm was not challenged by the NYSC, and the corps should have charged him with forgery if they genuinely believed that they did not issue the NYSC certificate to him.
The judge concluded that the NYSC had acted in bad faith and was mischievous in denying Mbah’s NYSC certificate. Earlier, Governor Mbah had sued the NYSC and its Director, Corps Certification, Mr. Ibrahim Muhammad, for publishing a disclaimer denying the issuance of a discharge certificate to him on January 6, 2003.
On May 15, the court issued an order restraining the NYSC from further engaging in such publication pending the determination of the case.
The NYSC, in response, filed a preliminary objection, arguing that Governor Mbah had not followed the required procedure of appealing to the president, as stipulated by the National Youth Service Corps Act, before filing the lawsuit.
The NYSC claimed that the failure to appeal to the president rendered the suit premature and outside the court’s jurisdiction.
In summary, the court ruled in favour of Governor Mbah, awarding him damages and ruling that the NYSC’s actions were in bad faith. The case arose from a dispute over the authenticity of Mbah’s NYSC certificate and the NYSC’s publication disclaiming it.
