Alleged certificate forgery: NYSC loses bid to stop Mbah’s N20b suit

AFederal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the objection raised the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) against a N20billion suit filed against it by Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State.
Mbah had sued the NYSC and the Director, Corps Certification, Ibrahim Muhammad for publishing a disclaimer in which the organisation denied the issuance of a discharge certificate issued to him (Mbah) on Jan.6, 2003.

In the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/611/2023, Mbah is claiming, among others,N20billion in damages.

In a ruling on Friday, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the preliminary objection lacked merit and ought to be dismissed.

Justice Ekwo was of the view that the provision of Section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004 which the objection was hinged on, is not applicable to Mbah since he was neither a prospective nor a serving corps member.

The judge said: “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.

“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.

“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 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.

“It makes the provision applicable to ‘a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member,'” the judge said.

He added that after studying the plaintiff’s statement, he found no averment or claim where it was stated that the governor was either “a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member.”

The judge said: “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.

“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,” he said.

The judge proceeded to dismiss the preliminary objection by the NYSC and adjourned till September 21 for the hearing of the main suit.