Tunde Oyesina 
A coalition of civil society groups Total Support for the Rule of Law and Justice Initiative and Enugu Progressive Forum, which petitioned the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), demanding confirmation of the certificate obtained by the Enugu governor-elect, Mr. Peter Mbah, after doubting its authenticity, said it has been vindicated by the position of the NYSC Director-General that the certificate was fake. The NYSC DG, Brig. Gen.Y. D Ahmed had earlier said that the discharge certificate held by Enugu State Governor-elect was not issued by the body.
The NYSC boss, who was featured on Arise Television’s breakfast programme on Friday, said the argument on whether Mbah has a valid NYSC certificate or not, does not arise because he has told the PDP candidate in the 2023 governorship elections that what he presented as a certificate was fake. “Everyone knows how we issue our certificate in NYSC; we don’t give it in hotel rooms or houses,” he had said. Reacting, the groups, whose petition to the NYSC led to the development, said it has been vindicated.
The coalition however hailed the NYSC DG “for his boldness and forth- rightness in declaring that the certificate of National Service being paraded by Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah is fake.” The coalition in a statement issued today by the Director Compliance, Oluseyi Adegbenjo, said they have been vindicated by the statements made by the DG during a live interview on national television. “The DG pointedly denied that the NYSC issued the said certificate and admitted that Mr. Peter Mbah approached the Corps following our exposure of the forgery and that he was shown proof why the NYSC is of the belief that it did not issue the said certificate,” the statement read.
The groups however insisted that Mbah should confess and apologize to the people of Enugu for the embarrassment he has caused them by holding the doubtful certificate and bringing the entire state to disrepute following the controversy the issue has caused. “When Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun was exposed for parading a fake certificate, she ran away. “So, we believe it is time for Mr. Peter Mbah to run away from Enugu now before it is too late. If he waits for a court to make a pronouncement on the fake certificate, then he should be ready to go to jail.
“He had also called us a faceless group parading forged letters. “Now that Mr. Peter Mbah has confirmed that we are not a faceless group parading forged letters, we urge him to accept responsibility and also to apologise to us for the unprintable names he called us,” the groups added. Already, the Enugu State Governor-elect has dragged the NYSC and its Director, Corps Certification, Ibrahim Muhammad, before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, demanding the sum N20 billion as damage over alleged conspiracy, deceit, and misrepresentation of facts.
