Presentation of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate is not necessary for holding a political office in the country a Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled.
The court made the pronouncement Wednesday as it cleared a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adosun, of the allegation that she did not participate in the mandatory one-year service for university graduates before she took up the post of a minister.
The pronouncement was on a suit marked: FhC/ABJ/CS/303/2021, filed by Adeosun, with the Attorney General of the Federation as the sole defendant.
Giving the judgment Justice Taiwo Taiwo held that as at the time she graduated at the age of 22, Adeosun was not qualified to have participated in the scheme, being a British citizen.
Further, the judge declared as at the time Adeosun formally returned to Nigeria and became a Nigerian citizen at over 30 years of age, she was not eligible to present herself for the NYSC service.
At that time, the age limit for participation in the service had been set by the government at 30 years.
According to Justice Taiwo, the plaintiff or indeed anyone, did not require an NYSC discharge certificate to qualify to contest election to the House of Representatives or be appointed a Minister in Nigeria.
The judge therefore granted the four reliefs sought by the plaintiff, to include “a declaration that the plaintiff, being a United Kingdom citizen as of 1989 when she graduated from the University of East London, London, the United Kingdom at 22, she was ineligible to participate in the National Youth Service Corps scheme, established by the National Youth Service Corps Act, CAP N8, LFN, 2004”
Adeosun was forced to resign her position as Minister of Finance following the controversies that surrounded the discovery that she had not participated in the NYSC.
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