The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig Gen YD Ahmed, has insisted that the discharge certificate being paraded by Governor-elect of Enugu State, Peter Mbah is fake since it was not issued by the body.

The NYSC boss said this during an appearance on Arise TV’s breakfast programme on Friday.

According to the army general, there is no dispute about whether or not Mbah’s discharge certificate is fake because it is.

“He came to me and I called my director on certification to confirm the certificate and we discovered that the certificate was fake and I told him…I wonder how elites who have gone to school will resort to black market certificates.

“Everyone knows how we issue our certificate in NYSC we don’t give it in hotel rooms or houses,” the NYSC DG said.

The Enugu governor-elect had filed a lawsuit in which he demanded N20 billion as exemplary damages against the NYSC and its Director, Corps Certification, Ibrahim Muhammed, for “conspiracy, deceit and misrepresentation of facts.”

Mbah’s discharge certificate saga came to light in February when the NYSC, in response to an inquiry by a non-governmental organisation, released a letter stating that the certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate was not issued by the corps.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, upon a motion ex parte by Mbah’s counsel, Emeka Ozoani (SAN), made “an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants, NYSC and Muhammed from issuing, publishing further disclaimer that the NYSC certificate dated January 6, 2003, with “certificate number: A808297 issued to the plaintiff… by Section 11 of the NYSC Decree No. 51 of 1993, was not issued by NYSC pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed in this suit.”

However, the NYSC DG said noted that the commission has not been served any court process involving Mbah’s discharge certificate. (The Herald)