By Rowland Abaji

Can it be contested, if anyone dares to declare  that a large number of politicians in Nigeria are bold, fearless and courageous forgers of certificates? And for the initiates in this scam, they tread even where the proverbial devils dread and can defeat Lucifer in a  contest together with his army  of bodyguards.

But after successful deals, the possessors of fake certificates live with  perpetual  fear  in the aftermath.  The consequences are grave. Upon prove of certificate forgery, a politician looses his plomp position, faces public ignominy and sometimes, spend some regrettable time in jail.

Educational institutions, certificate-awarding professional bodies, like ICAN etc and lately, the NYSC have been  platforms  some politicians manipulate to forge certificates  to meet  essential conditions of qualification and  eligibility to hold public office. The scam is waxing stronger because public office in Nigeria is not merely, an attraction, but a means to one’s personal fulfilment in life, reflected in diverse outcomes.

The wealth, affluence and high social status accorded a politician or political officer holder everywhere is an irresistible  alluring bait. So, everything, legal or illegal is done to grab any opportunity to hold a public office. Those into the business of certificate forging have a booming trade today. The traffic in  the  shrines of certificate forgers is consistently high and seems reserved for political power brokers  and elites alone.

Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 to date has marked a crescent of certificate forgers in the country. It started with ex Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Salisu Buhari whose glorious entry into Nigeria’s elitist club was terminated abruptly because of certificate forgery,  after just 49 days of his reign.

The ebullient Salisu Buhari made claims to possession of multiple academic/ other certificates. But virtually all were sourced from the famed “Oluwale Center” in Lagos. Salisu Buhari did not spare the NYSC either. He faked both  the year of service and  NYSC discharge certificate of 1991. It was the albatross he prepared with his hands.

The pressure forced Salisu Buhari to resign his position and after resignation, the ex Speaker was convicted on multiple counts of  certificate forgeries and sentenced to two years imprisonment, but with an option of a fine. He bailed himself out by opting for the later option. Nigerians appreciated  and pardoned Salisu’s strength of character  for his unreserved apology to the nation for what he termed his “mistakes.”

But much as Nigerian politicians dread the disgraceful outcomes of certificate forgery upon discovery, the habit is still perversively endemic in the polity. The hapless ones have been caught, time and time again. But others have escaped or still dodging the eagle eyes  of the law and have continued to roam  the corridors of power with mercurial elegance!

However, what is difficult to discern is the passion of Nigerian politicians in forging NYSC documents and certificates. These unscrupulous politicians are doing everything possible to discredit the scheme or even scrap it, hence it’s difficult to manipulate the system, once NYSC is involved;  but easier to influence and twist records of educational institutions enmeshed in forged certificate scandals.

Certificate forgery has become an unfairly massive trend among some  Nigerian politicians. But they always get caught, especially when NYSC is factored into the forgery racket,as it has always refused to bulge to inducements.

Even in July 2019, Nigeria’s Supreme Court sacked a  House of Reps member, Hon  Abdulra’uf Abdulkadir Modibbo from Adamawa state from National Assembly. His offence was failure to participate in the one-year mandatory NYSC program. The apex court did not only declare Modibbo unfit to contest the election he won, but ordered him to vacate his seat in the Green Chamber for the next highest votes scorer in the election.

That’s the mystery and credibility of NYSC which dubious politicians today  are finding it extremely difficult to penetrate or manipulate to their favour. And there are many such veiled violators of the sanctity of the NYSC  in the corridors of power who are dead scared of the next action which might consume and  throw them out of their juicy positions. So, they have waged war against NYSC’s continued existence.

If Nigerians recollect vividly, about three months ago, a Reps member,  Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante from Rivers state, backed by co-travellers moved to cause a  scrapping of  the NYSC scheme. He cited spurious, hollow  and comedic reasons for the action.

Nigerians rose in unanimous uproar and  objections. Abiante’s dream to edge the NYSC out of relevance and save the scheme’s certificate forgers from any nightmare, crashed after the obnoxious bill reached the  second reading.

But some politicians are very energetic in the pursuit of this kind of bills. They are tireless and explore unimaginable fields in the desire to conquer at all cost! Therefore, a spotlight of the recent  judgement of a High Court in Abuja, on the NYSC discharge or  Exemption certificates  scandal case of Nigeria’s ex Finance minister, Ms. Kemi Adeosun rankles as  a likely morphing of the battle of pro- NYSC scrapping  campaigners into the judicial realm.

Accepted, the  legality of the presiding Judge’s discretion, as reflected in  the verdict, is within his jurisdiction.

However, it is utterly incredible to declare that NYSC certificate whether it is discharge or exemption are not compulsory for Nigerian graduates who fall within the age limit to serve the nation. Even a pupil would dispute it.

And what happened in the course of the trial was that Kemi Adeosun’s age was pegged at 34, above the age limit of participation in the scheme, which is below 30 years. But records show that at age 22 when Kemi Adeosun obtained her first degree in London, she had agreebly lost her citizenship of Nigeria to United Kingdom;  but regained it at age 25, when she  finally came back to her fatherland. That age was within the stipulated age limit of NYSC participation.

But the court in it’s wisdom declared Kemi  free of any guilt, but consciously rubbished the essence and esteem  of the NYSC scheme with the thoughtless verdict. Is the court advocating that NYSC participation is now  optional for graduates within the specified age limit? Or public employers should not request same from applicants?

Suspiciously, the court declined from even mentioning the forged NYSC  Exemption certificate presented to the Senate for ministerial screening in 2015. Probably, the lawyers or judges could argue that it is not part of the brief before the court.

Nonetheless, the whole drama exudes with manifestation of the orchestrated plots, and  a carefully crafted agenda in  the aggressive pursuit of the destruction of the  shadows of NYSC scheme in order to cripple it’s efficacy or render it legally impotent requirement  in public service.

Politicians who didn’t participate in the NYSC  scheme, and haunted by the phobia of Kemi Adeosun’s  fate  befalling them in the nearest future and possibly, send them packing from public office are leaving nothing to chance.  They are still assiduously working behind the scenes to sacrifice NYSC to appease their instincts and protect their offices.

But God has already deserted them. The 2019 judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of improper participation in NYSC by Hon  Abdulra’uf Abdulkadir Modibbo is a standing precedence which has invalidated whatever pronouncement from the lower court.

In a unanimous judgment by a five-man  panel of the apex court, in the  appeal marked: SC/790/2019 read by Justice John Okoro (SCJ), the learned  Justices were succinct that  Modibo was not qualified to  even contest  an election, ab initio, by his failure to  properly participate in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), scheme.

So, the politicians still parading fake exemption letters or even certificate of participation should not go to bed yet. The battle is just beginning and no culprit will be spared.

And the incumbent NYSC Director-Gen. Brigadier Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim  is more determined than any of his predecessors in fighting the menace of fake NYSC certificates. He actually started fighting this forgery syndicate about two years back by blocking fake results holders from being called to orientation camp, after flushing out internal collaborators.

It’s time for Nigerians in this scandal to turn a new leaf. Nigerians will never allow anyone to kill the NYSC scheme; at least, not in this generation.

Abaji is a public affairs analyst based in Lagos.