The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has disowned a discharge certificate allegedly presented by former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Geoffrey Nnaji, during his screening at the National Assembly.
An NYSC Assistant Director in the Department of Certification, Yusuf Abubakar Jumare, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the organisation did not issue the certificate.
Jumare, who testified as the second prosecution witness in the case instituted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), identified four discrepancies in the document.
He said the certificate number carried the prefix “A”, which the NYSC did not begin using until 1990, despite the document being dated 1985. He also noted that its call-up number contained four digits instead of the five digits used in 1985.
The witness further said the certificate indicated a 13-month service period rather than the required 12 months and did not bear the signature of the NYSC Director-General who was in office at the time.
The ICPC is prosecuting Nnaji on a six-count charge bordering on alleged corruption, fraud, conferring corrupt advantage and providing false information through the presentation of allegedly forged national service and university degree certificates.
Jumare said his department investigated the certificate following a request from the ICPC. He described the department as the custodian of NYSC certificates and maintained that the organisation did not issue the document.
However, during cross-examination, the witness admitted that he did not check whether the NYSC had previously issued any certificate to Nnaji.
The prosecution tendered correspondence between the ICPC and the NYSC, which the court admitted as exhibits. The defence said it would reserve its objection to the admissibility of the documents.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik adjourned the case until November 30 for the continuation of the cross-examination.
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