Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has taken legal action against the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed, accusing him of disregarding court orders, News About Nigeria reports.
Mbah filed an application with the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking the imprisonment of Ahmed for his alleged non-compliance.
The application, submitted by Mbah’s lawyer, Emeka Ozoani, SAN, argued that Ahmed violated a court order issued on May 15, which prohibited him from publishing or issuing a disclaimer stating that the NYSC certificate of national service issued to the governor was not genuine.
Mbah’s legal team filed the application in accordance with the Judgement Enforcement Rules of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act.
In the application, Mbah requested the court to order the imprisonment of Ahmed for his disobedience.
The court was scheduled to hear the case on Friday, but it did not convene, resulting in an adjournment until July 4.
Governor Mbah had initially filed a lawsuit against the NYSC and its Director of Corps Certification, Mr. Ibrahim Muhammad, for publishing a disclaimer denying the authenticity of his discharge certificate.
On May 15, the court issued an interim order restraining the NYSC, Muhammad, and their agents from making any further publications of this nature until the substantive matter was resolved.
The court order was granted following an ex parte motion presented by Mbah’s counsel, Mr. Ozoani.
However, the court did not grant the second prayer of the motion, deeming it too extensive. Instead, the judge ordered that the defendants be notified about the case.
In the motion, Mbah explained that he completed his law degree in the UK and upon returning to Nigeria, he enrolled in the Nigerian Law School.
After completing the Bar Part 1 program, he was advised to fulfill the mandatory one-year NYSC program while waiting for the Bar Part 2 program.
During his NYSC service, Mbah faced some challenges and had to defer his participation in order to complete the bar final exam.
He later resumed the NYSC program and successfully completed it, receiving a Certificate of National Service dated January 6, 2003.
In response, the defendants filed a preliminary objection, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction and competence to hear the case.
They contended that Mbah should have appealed to the president as required by the NYSC Act before initiating legal action.
The defendants claimed that since Mbah failed to comply with the provisions of the NYSC Act, the court should dismiss the suit as premature.
They argued that appealing to the president was a necessary step before resorting to legal proceedings.
On February 1, the NYSC issued a letter stating that the certificate belonging to Governor Mbah was not issued by the corps. However, Mbah, a member of the People’s Democratic Party, was declared the winner of the Enugu state governorship election held on March 18 by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
