Since his candidacy and subsequent inauguration as governor of Enugu, controversy has trailed the authenticity of Peter Mbah’s NYSC certificate. In February, the NYSC in a letter said the certificate belonging to the Governor of Enugu State was not issued by the corps. Although Mbah claims that his certificate carries an NYSC certification stamp, the body, however, argued that the certificate could be forged.
After all, what could have gone wrong that the NYSC Director of Certifications, Mr Ibrahim Muhammad would have stated that the NYSC certificate belonging to Mr Mbah did not emanate from them. One will wonder, why would the NYSC picket the Enugu State Governor out of all the 36 state governors in Nigeria. Even the Director-General of NYSC, Mr. Yisha’u Ahmed insisted that the agency did not issue the certificate to Mr Mbah
As a typical Nigerian politician, Peter Mbah sued the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for N20 billion at a Federal High Court in Abuja, for alleged conspiracy, deceit, and misrepresentation of facts. This is mainly done to cover his track and exploit the instruments of the law to his advantage.
One will wonder how Mr Peter Mbah could have been serving the nation as a corp member and at the same time, serving as the Chief of Staff to then Governor of Enugu, Chimaroke Nnamani. There is also a certified charge sheet by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) charging Mr. Peter Mbah for money laundering committed in July 2003, the same time he claimed he was serving as a corp member.
It is not surprising to learn that Peter Mbah first obtained a court injunction that barred NYSC from disclaiming his certificate. Like a bull fighting for his life, Peter Mbah also employed the service of the Nigerian secret police, the Department of State Service (DSS) to solidify his case. However, a majority of the people viewed all his desperate moves like cosmetics applied to the face of a 90-year-old woman.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party (LP) candidate in the 18 March governorship election in the state, Mr. Chijioke Edeoga, is at the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, challenging Mr Mbah’s election. The Labour Party candidate believes he won the election, having scored the highest number of valid votes.
It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declares that Mr. Mbah polled 160,895 votes to defeat his closest challenger, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, who scored 157,552 votes after controversy had trailed results from two local government where elections were believed to have been manipulated in favour of the PDP candidate.
Whatever the decision of the election tribunal, the appellant court, and subsequently the supreme court, Mr Peter Mbah will continue to hold an albatross as the governor of Enugu State with an NYSC certification controversy. Perhaps, it will be ideal for the governor of Enugu to take the path of the former Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun who resigned her position for the same NYSC certificate brouhaha.
