The National Youth Service Corps has told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the discharge certificate presented by former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Geoffrey Nnaji, was not issued by the scheme.
An Assistant Director in the NYSC Department of Certification, Yusuf Abubakar Jumare, made the disclosure on Tuesday while testifying as the second prosecution witness in Nnaji’s ongoing trial over alleged certificate forgery and money laundering.
Nnaji is facing six charges filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over allegations bordering on the forgery of his NYSC discharge certificate and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, degree certificate.
Testifying before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, Jumare said his department investigated the disputed certificate following a request by the ICPC and concluded that the document was not authentic.
The witness identified four discrepancies which, according to him, exposed the alleged irregularities in the certificate. He said the document carried the prefix “A” in its certificate number, although the NYSC only introduced the prefix in 1990, five years after Nnaji reportedly completed his service.
He further told the court that the call-up number on the document contained four digits instead of the five digits reportedly used by the scheme in 1985. He also faulted the stated service period of 13 months, saying the NYSC service year was 12 calendar months.
Jumare added that the certificate was signed by an official described as a “National General” instead of the Director, which was the designation of the NYSC chief executive at the time of Nnaji’s purported service completion.
During cross-examination by defence counsel, Bode Olanikpekun, SAN, the witness maintained that the certificate was not issued by the NYSC. However, he admitted that he did not verify whether Nnaji had ever been issued a discharge certificate by the scheme.
The court admitted correspondence between the ICPC and the NYSC as exhibits, while the defence indicated that it would raise objections to their admissibility later, citing its failure to receive copies of the documents. The judge adjourned the case until November 30 for continuation of cross-examination and January 29 for further proceedings.
Nnaji, who is the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the forthcoming Enugu State election, was represented by a legal team led by Chief Wole Olanikpekun, SAN.
