Politics
Certificate Forgery: Court Dismisses NYSC’s Objection To Mbah’s Suit
The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has dismissed the preliminary objection filed by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) against Governor Peter Mbah’s N20 billion suit over alleged certificate forgery.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling, held that the preliminary objection lacked merit and ought to be dismissed.
Justice Ekwo said section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004, which NYSC based its objection on, did not apply to Mr Mbah since he was not a serving corps member.
“Again, I am minded to agree with the plaintiff (Mbah) on whom the provision of Section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004 applies. This means that the provision has a category of persons to whom it is applicable,” the judge explained.
”A keen perusal of the provision of Section 22 (1) and (2) of the Act would reveal that it sets out the person to whom the provision of Section 20 of the Act applies, which is a ‘member of the service corps’ which is defined to mean a person registered as a member of the service corps.”
He added, “It is then stated in section 21 (2) that for the purpose of the Act, the reference to a ‘member of the service corps’ includes, unless to the context otherwise requires or it is otherwise expressly provided, a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member.”
The judge stressed that the “major characteristic of the provision of section 21 (1) and (2) of the act is that the draftsman puts wordings thereof in the present tense and not past tense,” pointing out that it “makes the provision applicable to ‘a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member’.”
Justice Ekwo held that upon studying the statement of Mr Mbah’s claim, he found no averment or claim thereof where it was stated that the governor was either “a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member.”
According to the judge, it was settled law, without prejudice to the position of the law, that “the jurisdiction of a court is determined by the subject matter of the action and the claim before the court.”
“Consequently, I find that the substance of the preliminary objection of the defendants is not predicated on a proper interpretation of the provision of Section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004 and therefore premised on erroneous consideration of the said provision,” the judge stressed.
“It is rather sad that this preliminary objection has been used to waste the time of the court and consequently divert proceedings in this case from the substantive matter.”
Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter until September 21 and 22 for hearing.
Mr Mbah had sued the NYSC and its director of corps certification, Ibrahim Muhammad, for publishing a disclaimer denying the issuance of a discharge certificate issued to him on Jan.6, 2003.
On May 15, the judge restrained the NYSC, Mr Muhammad and any of their agents from engaging in such publication pending the hearing and determination of the substantive matter.
But the NYSC, in its preliminary objection dated May 19 and filed May 22, sought an order dismissing or striking out the suit for want of jurisdiction and competence.
The NYSC had, on February 1, written a letter signed by Mr Muhammad saying that the agency did not issue the NYSC certificate belonging to Mr Mbah.
Mr Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner of the Enugu governorship election held on March 18 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Mr Ojukwu, who recently returned to the interim National Working Committee led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, noted that the party had 34 elected members in the House of Representatives, eight Senators, and 80 members at the state Houses of Assembly after the 2023 general elections.
“Now we lost all of them,” he said. “I don’t think we have as many as five members in the National Assembly.”
The former national officer of the LP talked to journalists in Abuja and said he chose to join the caretaker committee led by Senator Nenadi-Usman because they are now the officially recognized leaders of the Party.
“I chose to work with the caretaker committee to help save the Labour Party, for the benefit of the party. I also want to use this chance to ask my colleagues at the national, state, and local government levels to come together and help rebuild our party.
“Another election is around the corner. We lost everything we have. They have left to other political parties. So I’ll reach out to all my friends in the other group to get together and work on making this party stronger again.
“The caretaker committee has formed a reconciliation committee. Let’s come together and talk so that we can restore the first opposition political party in Nigeria.”
Mr Ojukwu, who was part of the Julius Abure’s group, said there are no more factions in the LP.
He added, “There is a court ruling, and since it is valid, the right people are in the correct positions.”
He urged Barr Abure and others to drop the legal cases they have filed because they are not helping the party.
“Litigations are killing political parties”, he said. “They’ve seen many political parties disappear because of legal battles, and the Labor Party is losing support every day, which makes me feel sad.”
Mr Ojukwu said he did not think joining the Senator Nenadi-Usman’s NWC was a betrayal of the Abure group, describing himself as “the oxygen” of that faction.
“I’m with this group because of the verdict. But I never betrayed anybody. Rather, I was betrayed,” he added.