PDP asks Buhari to sack Adeosun after claims she forged NYSC discharge certificate

NIGERIA'S main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to sack and prosecute finance minister Kemi Adeosun for fraud after it emerged that she forged a National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) exemption certificate.

Over the weekend, it emerged that Ms Adeosun, 51, an economist and chartered accountant has been Nigeria's finance minister since 2015 when President Buhari's All Progressives Congress came to power. A British-born diasporan, Ms Adeosun  earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of East London and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Financial Management from the University of London.

Highly respected for the reforms she has introduced, seeking to plug the holes in Nigeria's finances, Ms Adeosun has been engulfed in a scandal after being accused of not doing the mandatory one-year NYSC national service. To make matters worse, Ms Adeosun has been accused by newspaper Premium Times of forging her NYSC certificate of exemption.

According to the newspaper, Ms Adeosun’s certificate is dated September 9, 2009 and was purportedly signed by Yusuf Bomoi, a former NYSC director-general. However, Mr Bomoi, who passed away in September last year, stepped down from the NYSC in January 2009 and could not have signed any certificate eight months afterwards.

Furthermore, Premium Times explained that according to several current and former NYSC officials, the agency would never issue an exemption certificate to anyone who graduated before age 30 and did not fall into the categories of persons exempted. Apart from those over 30, other people exempt include those who are holders of national honours, persons who served in the armed forces or the police for up to nine months and staff of intelligence agencies.

PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, said the revelation vindicates its stand that the Buhari presidency is a haven of fraudsters, common thieves and persons of questionable character. He added that the recent revelation has cast a full-length dark shadow on the overall integrity of the Buhari administration.

Mr Ologbondiyan added: “The world can now see how the Buhari presidency has been concealing sharp practices under it. We can now see why there is humongous corruption under President Buhari’s watch and why Mr President has refused to take any concrete steps to check the sleaze in his administrations.

“Perhaps such artful dodgers were deliberately hired and placed in revenue related agencies to perfect the pilfering of our common patrimony for interests in the Buhari presidency. It is on this premise that PDP challenged Buhari to prove himself a man of integrity by allowing an open system-wide and independent inquest into all alleged corrupt practices in his presidency."

In addition, the PDP also demanded an investigation into several other financial matters for which Ms Adeosun had responsibility. Furthermore, Mr Ologbondiyan demanded for an open investigation into the N18bn ($500m) internally displaced persons intervention fund and the N10bn National Health Insurance Scheme alleged to have been stolen from the Treasury Single Account by APC officials and the presidency cabal.

He added: “We challenge President Buhari to be bold to allow an open independent inquest into the exact figures amounting to the trillions of naira oil revenue earned by the nation in the last three years and how he had spent same with Mrs Adeosun as minister of finance. Mr President should also allow an open inquest into his handling, with Mrs Adeosun, of all our depleted foreign financial instruments, including the Excess Crude Account, from which funds were taken without recourse to the National Assembly.

“President Buhari should also allow an inquest into his administration’s borrowing of over N10trn in 30 months, with Mrs Adeosun as minister of finance and the purposes for which the money was used. We also challenge President Buhari to allow an inquest into the leaked memo at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation showing N9trn corrupt oil contracts as well as the alleged stealing of N1.1trn worth of crude oil, all in a sector under his direct purview as minister of petroleum."