Adeosun: Contextualising the Certificate Issues
While former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, is busy celebrating a Federal High Court’s judgment over her non-particiaption in the National Youth Service Corps scheme, what she does not want anybody to remind her is the allegation of forgery of the “exemption certificate” still hanging around her neck.
Former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, was in the news last week, when a Federal High Court in Abuja, ruled that she did not need the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate to up a ministerial appointment in the country. Delivering judgment in a suit she instituted against Abubkar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Justice Taiwo Taiwo held that Adeosun was not qualified to participate in the NYSC scheme, when she graduated from a London university at 22 years, because she was then a British citizen. She further held that, as at when she formally returned to Nigeria, and became a Nigerian citizen, at over 30 years old, she was no longer eligible to present herself for the NYSC scheme.
Adeosun came into political prominence in 2011, when she was appointed Commissioner for Finance in Ogun State by the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration. During her tenure, she was said to have redefined the financial fortune of the state. After President Muhammadu Buhari won election in 2015, she was recommended, and appointed Minister for Finance.
Adesoun was having a good run in office until sometime in July 2018, when it was reported that she skipped the mandatory NYSC scheme and procured a forged certificate purporting to have exempted her from the one-year mandatory exercise.
Following intense pressure for her to be sacked and prosecuted for forgery, she tendered her resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on September 14, 2018, admitting that she realised that the NYSC certificate she had presented to be appointed as minister “was not genuine.” She admitted presenting the same fraudulent certificate for her earlier appointment as Commissioner for Finance of Ogun State in 2011.
Excerpts from her letter to the president read: “Let me commence by thanking you profusely for the honour and privilege of serving under your inspirational leadership. It has been a truly rewarding experience to learn from you and to observe at close quarters your integrity and sense of duty.
“I have, today, become privy to the findings of the investigation into the allegation made in an online medium that the Certificate of Exemption from National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) that I had presented was not genuine. This has come as a shock to me and I believe that in line with this administration’s focus on integrity, I must do the honourable thing and resign.
“Your Excellency, kindly permit me to outline some of the background to this matter. I was born and raised in the United Kingdom, indeed my parental family home remains in London. My visits to Nigeria up until the age of thirty-four (34) were holidays, with visas obtained in my UK passport.
“I obtained my first Nigerian passport at the age of thirty-four (34) and when I relocated there was debate as to whether NYSC law applied to me. Upon enquiry as to my status relating to NYSC, I was informed that due to my residency history and having exceeded the age of thirty (30), I was exempted from the requirement to serve. Until recent events, that remained my understanding.
“On the basis of that advice and with the guidance and assistance of those, I thought were trusted associates, NYSC were approached for documentary proof of status. I then received the certificate in question. Having never worked in NYSC, visited the premises, been privy to nor familiar with their operations, I had no reason to suspect that the certificate was anything but genuine.
“Indeed, I presented that certificate at the 2011 Ogun State House of Assembly and in 2015 for Directorate of State Services (DSS) clearance as well as to the National Assembly for screening. Be that as it may, as someone totally committed to a culture of probity and accountability I have decided to resign with effect from Friday, 14th September, 2018.”
Instead of being immediately arrested and prosecuted based on her confession, since ignorance of the law is not an excuse from prosecution, nothing was done to her until she, through her lawyers, filed a suit marked, FHC/ABJ/ CS/303/2021 against the AGF.
Among her four prayers in the suit was “a declaration that the plaintiff, being a United Kingdom citizen as at 1989, when she graduated from the University of East London, London, United Kingdom at the age of 22 years, was ineligible to participate in the NYSC scheme, established by the National Youth Service Corps Act, CAP N8, LFN, 2004.”
Justice Taiwo, in granting the four prayers requested by Adeosun, also noted that the plaintiff was not supposed to present herself for the NYSC scheme, because under the 1979 Constitution, which was in force at the time of her graduation, she was not a Nigerian citizen and that she became a Nigerian citizen, when she was above 30 years, which was beyond the age of participation in the scheme. He held that since the 1979 Constitution, which was in force at the time she graduated did not recognise dual citizenship, Adeosun could not have engaged in the NYSC scheme, because she was then a British citizen.
The judge added that since the extant Constitution did not require the plaintiff to present an NYSC discharge certificate to be appointed a minister, her ministerial appointment was not illegal, neither was it unconstitutional, even without presenting the NYSC certificate.
Justice Taiwo concluded that Adeosun having graduated from the University of East London in 1989 at the age of 22, her participation in the NYSC scheme and the possession of its discharge certificate were not a yardstick for qualification for appointment as a minister or to stand election as a member of the House of Representatives.
Immedately after the judgment, Adeosun in a statement, said she had been vindicated by the court, adding that she had a traumatic spell on the certificate forgery allegation against her. The former minister said the judgment was not only a personal victory for her but for all Nigerians in the Diaspora. She said she would take further steps at the appropriate time to protect her reputation.
While the former minister is rejoicing over the judicial reprieve, perhaps, what she did not know is that the issue she took to court was not her eligibility or for the NYSC scheme, but the presentation of a forged ememption certificate. Observers feel that she is rejoicing, because the AGF and police have refused to prosecute her for forgery. They held that her suit was a smart ploy to avoid prosecution.
They faulted the AGF and the police, whose responsibility it is to file criminal charges against the former minister for forgery, and are rather indifferent in prosecuting her. They argued that if she was promptly charged, her suit would have been unnecessary.
Moreso as the NYSC scheme is compulsory for all Nigerians, who graduate from universities or equivalent institutions at less than 30 years of age.
In addition to being a requirement for government and private sector jobs in Nigeria, the enabling law prescribes punishment for anyone, who absconds from the scheme or forges its certificates. Eligible Nigerians, who skip the service are liable to be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and/ or N2,000 fine, according to Section 13 of the NYSC law.
Section 13 (3) of the law also prescribes three-year jail term or option of N5,000 fine for anyone, who contravenes provision of the law as Mrs Adeosun has done. Subsection 4 of the same section also criminalises giving false information or illegally obtaining the agency’s certificate. It provides for up to three-year jail term for such offenders.
While a cross section of Nigerians, who do not understand the case before the court have been criticising the judiciary, the courts on a number of occasions have ruled that they are not Father Christmas, and as such, cannot decide on issues not brought before them. In the instant case, it was clear that the case brought before the court was a civil matter and not criminal. Instead, all attention should be focused on the AGF, who has been shielding Adesoun from criminal prosecution.
Another issue, does the judgment obtained by the former minister last week exonerate her from prosection? The answer, to many, is no. To them, the onus lies on the AGF.
In the build-up to the 2019 general election, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) disqualified the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, from participating in the Oyo State governorship primary, following another expose that showed that he too skipped the NYSC.
A suit he subsequently filed to challenge his disqualification was struck out by the Federal High Court in Ibadan on technical grounds in April 2019. Justice P. I. Ajoku, who heard the case, because the plaintff did comply with the Constitution, which only gives him 14 days to file his suit after the action has commenced.
Shittu skipped the NYSC but unlike Adeosun did not forge a certificate to get his ministerial appointment.