By Ayo Kehinde
Mrs Kemi Adeosun
Justice Taiwo Oladipupo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday said that the former Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun did not need the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) discharge certificate to take up any ministerial appointment or before standing for any elective office in the country.
According to the ruling, Adeosun committed no offence because she was 36 years of age in 1989 when she graduated from a London University, therefore, exempted from participating in the NYSC scheme.
Justice Taiwo, held that Adeosun from available facts was a United Kingdom citizen having been born in the UK in 1967 and remained there till 2003 when she came back to Nigeria.
Justice Taiwo held that Adeosun became a Nigerian citizen by virtue of the 1999 Constitution which came into force on May 29 of the year, therefore, the NYSC Act will have no effect on her.
The judge said that Adeosun would have committed a grave crime against Nigeria if she had participated in the NYSC having attained the exemption age of 36 years.
In 2018, Premium Times, an online publication had accused the former minister of forging her exemption certificate, a document issued to Nigerians excluded from carrying out the mandatory one-year national youth service.
Adeosun, who lived in the UK until she was 34, said she had been told she was exempted from the mandatory service because she was over 30.
The former minister in a statement in September 2018 said she was issued with a certificate that she thought was genuine.
Adeosun eventually resigned after months of speculation in local media about whether her NYSC was genuine.
In her reaction to Wednesday’s judgment, Adeosun, in a statement in Abuja, said that she had a traumatic spell on the NYSC certificate forgery allegation against her.
The statement reads in part: “My lawyers have informed me of the judgment by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in the case of Folakemi Adeosun v The Attorney General of the Federation (FHC/ABJ/CS/303/2021), in which the court, presided over by Honourable Justice Taiwo Taiwo, ruled that the Constitution does not require me to present my first-degree certificate or any other certificate, including the NYSC certificate, to be appointed a Minister.
“The ruling vindicates me after a very traumatic spell. It’s, however, not only a personal victory; it is also a victory for many Nigerians in the Diaspora under similar conditions which are desirous of serving their country.
“I wish to thank God, my family, friends, my counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and numerous well-wishers for their love, care and concern throughout this difficult period, which has lasted three whole years.”
