Duke and Mimiko submit their presidential forms without NYSC discharge certificates

FORMER governors Donald Duke and Olusegun Mimiko are facing questions regarding their eligibility to run for president after their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificates were found to be missing from their nomination forms.

As of yesterday, 79 candidates had submitted their presidential nomination forms with the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) to stand in next year's presidential elections. Among them were Governor Duke, who is standing as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Governor Mimiko who is running as the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) flagbearer.

They both filed their forms with Inec but the NYSC discharge certificates were among the documents they submitted. Governor Mimiko, a medical doctor, attended the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife.

In his nomination form, Governor Duke admitted that he attended the Ahmadu Bello University,  Zaria, where he obtained a law degree in 1982 and the Nigerian Law School, after which he was called to the bar in 1983. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania in the United States from 1983 to 1984 where he obtained a Master of Laws degree

Also, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and former chief security officer to late military dictator General Sani Abacha, claimed that his credentials are still with the Nigerian Army. He added that his entire personal documents including his certificates and awards were taken away by the then government in 1998.

Formal complaints were registered before a Lagos high court and the federal high court but the government refused to obey the orders to return them. Like Mr Al-Mustapha, President Muhammadu Buhari claimed that his certificates were with the military in a 2014 affidavit attached to his presidential nomination form.