DSS clears Mbah of NYSC certificate forgery as governor opens defence in LP’s petition

The Department of State Security (DSS) has dismissed claims by the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) that the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, forged his discharge certificate ahead of the March 18 election in the state.

The Labour Party candidate in Enugu State, Mr. Chijioke Edeoga, is challenging Mbah’s victory in the election over alleged irregularities and forgery of his NYSC discharge certificate at the state governorship election petition tribunal.

The NYSC Director-General, Brig. Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed, had in April declared that the discharge certificate in the governor’s possession was not from the service.

However, in a statement on oath adopted by its Deputy Director in charge of Operations and Strategy, Mr. Yahaya Isa Mohammed, the DSS said it commenced an investigation into the matter following a petition dated February 8, 2023, written by Mbah.

The governor opened his defence on the petition on Wednesday.

The agency added certificates in a series that included Mbah’s name were found to have been issued to corps members by NYSC in Lagos.

The statement read: ““The failure of the NYSC to maintain a proper record-keeping system was the cause of its inability to trace Peter Ndubuisi Mbah’s initial certificate. It would be wrong for the NYSC to blame Peter Ndubuisi Mbah for its own failure in record keeping.

READ ALSO: Enugu PDP accuses NYSC DG of lying over gov-elect Mbah’s discharge certificate

“That there were exchanges of correspondences between Mbah and the NYSC at every stage of their interactions. Mbah did not take any action without the NYSC’s approval.

“That Mbah’s file with the NYSC got missing at some point in time and NYSC started using a temporary file for him. For instance, in NYSC’s response to his application for deferment, the file number was LA/10/1532, while in their response to his remobilization application, the file number was LA/01/1532/T.

“That there was a mix-up in his record as a result of the missing file.

“The difference in Mbah’s certificate number compared to others that were mobilized at the same time is due to the inability of NYSC to trace the initial file where the first certificate A678 was.

“From the documents presented by NYSC regarding certificate numbers, about twelve (12) certificate numbers (A808297-A808308) which include that of Mbah, remained unaccounted for in the eight (8) series by the NYSC.”

“That the law firm, Udeh &Associates where Mbah served, cleared him for his monthly clearance for eleven (11) months covering January-June, 2002 and May-August, 2003 as well as his final clearance in September 2003 covering the period of his first mobilization and re-instatement indicated that he served hence no need for him to forge certificate.”

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