by Kabir Yusuf
Former Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun has again attempted to mislead the public regarding the certificate forgery scandal that led to her resignation in 2018.
In an interview with Channels Television aired on Friday, Ms Adeosun framed the controversy around her exit from government as merely an allegation that she “graduated at 22, skipped NYSC, and therefore the certificate I presented must have been forged.”
However, that narrative misrepresents the facts established by a PREMIUM TIMES investigation.
The investigation was not just about whether Ms Adeosun was required to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. It was mainly about her submission of a forged exemption certificate.
PREMIUM TIMES revealed how Ms Adeosun skipped the mandatory national youth service and procured a forged certificate purporting to exempt her from the one-year exercise.
The former minister went on to use the document to secure high-profile employment, including her appointment as a commissioner in Ogun State and later as Nigeria’s finance minister.
Following the investigation, Ms Adeosun was forced to resign from office on 14 September 2018. In her resignation letter to former President Muhammadu Buhari, she admitted that she realised the NYSC certificate she submitted for her ministerial appointment “was not genuine” after the PREMIUM TIMES report.
Although she claimed in the letter that she did not know the certificate was forged and had relied on associates who helped her obtain it after her return from the United Kingdom, she acknowledged the findings of the investigation as true.
Activists and civil society groups demanded her prosecution for forgery, insisting that if everyday Nigerians were found guilty of such an offence, they would be prosecuted. However, the government declined to prosecute her.
In contrast to her admittance of guilt in her resignation letter, her recent interview sought to reframe the issue as a debate about NYSC eligibility. She did not repeat the admission contained in her 2018 resignation letter regarding the forged certificate.
False Claim on reason for resignation
Ms Adeosun also described her resignation as a “principled decision” rather than an admission of wrongdoing.
She said she stepped aside to protect the integrity of public office, especially as she had decided to challenge the matter in court.
“People kept asking, Why did I resign? That no one resigns as Minister of Finance as I did. I still think it was the right thing for me to do,” she said.
“My resignation is a matter of principle and not an admission of wrongdoing. It was a step to protect the Office of the Minister of Finance and defend my reputation.”
Resignation not out of principle
Mrs Adeosun claimed during the Channels interview that she resigned out of principle and that the government was silent and took no action for three months after she was exposed.
Both claims are false.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the allegations against Ms Adeosun were investigated. A committee led by then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, examined the matter and confirmed that her NYSC exemption certificate was forged.
Mr Mustapha started by first directing Ms Adeosun to issue a press statement on the matter. But she rejected the advice. This prompted Mr Mustapha to fire her repeated queries and reminders, all of which she neither acknowledged nor addressed, PREMIUM TIMES reported at the time.
Consequently, the SGF wrote to the NYSC via its supervising Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, demanding the scheme’s position on the scandal. The NYSC responded to Mr Mustapha, telling the SGF that Ms Adeosun, indeed, forged her certificate as reported.
Mr Mustapha then prepared a report for the then president, in which he confirmed that all elements of PREMIUM TIMES’ investigation were true and recommended that Mrs Adeosun was no longer fit as a cabinet minister.
Her resignation, therefore, was not a voluntary or principled act but the direct outcome of the investigation’s findings.
PREMIUM TIMES also reported that Ms Adeosun was barred from a Federal Executive Council meeting and was instructed, through Mr Buhari’s Chief of Staff, to submit her resignation.
The resignation was presented as a final chance to preserve what remained of her integrity.
Following the investigation by the SGF and NYSC, and subsequent presidential order for her resignation, Ms Adeosun tendered her resignation.
President Buhari accepted Mrs Adeosun’s resignation, in which she admitted the document was forged and acknowledged the findings of the SGF’s committee.
“I have, today, become privy to the findings of the investigation into the allegation made in an online medium that the Certificate of Exemption from National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) that I had presented was not genuine,” Ms Adeosun wrote in her resignation letter about the PREMIUM TIMES investigation that precipitated her ouster. “This has come as a shock to me, and I believe that in line with this administration’s focus on integrity, I must do the honourable thing and resign.”
More claims in the Interview
In the Channels TV interview, Mrs Adeosun also claimed that “powerful enemies” within the Buhari administration exploited the controversy as an opportunity to remove her from office.
“I’m not confused about the fact that I had powerful enemies who I believed saw an opportunity. Let’s get rid of her,” she said.
She claimed to have had a final conversation with Mr Buhari, during which she informed him of her decision to resign and go to court to clear her name, suggesting that her resignation was voluntary.
According to her, the former president supported her decision.
Explaining why she did not remain in office while pursuing legal action, the former minister said, “I can’t be attending local and international meetings as Minister of Finance and also appearing in court in a case of integrity and reputation.”
The Court Case
Following the suit she filed, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that Mrs Adeosun did not breach any law by being appointed as a minister in 2015 without participating in the NYSC scheme.
The issue of forgery, however, was not before the court, as the federal government declined to prosecute her on that count.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo held that Ms Adeosun, who graduated from the University of East London in 1989 at the age of 22, was a British citizen at the time and therefore not eligible to participate in the NYSC scheme.
The court was silent on the alleged forged certificate because it was not presented before it.
The failure of the police and other relevant authorities to prosecute Mrs Adeosun for forgery has, therefore, allowed her to continue to claim that the court cleared her.
The former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, also failed to defend the federal government in the case she brought to court; neither did he appeal the ruling.
The judge, in granting her prayers, noted that Mr Malami, who is being prosecuted for fraud in an unrelated case, as the sole defendant, conceded to the suit.
“It is my finding, which was not challenged (by the Attorney General of the Federation), that by the time she (Adeosun) moved back to Nigeria in 2003, she was not eligible under the NYSC Act to serve in the National Youth Service Corps scheme. “In fact, it would have been a criminal offence if she had participated in the NYSC under any guise,” Justice Taiwo ruled.
The judge further ruled that by the time she returned to Nigeria in 2003 and became a Nigerian citizen at over 30 years old, she was no longer eligible for NYSC participation. He added that an NYSC certificate was not a requirement for ministerial appointment or for contesting legislative elections.
Justice Taiwo did not review the procurement of the forged NYSC exemption certificate that Ms Adeosun submitted for her screening ahead of her 2015 appointment, as the matter was not presented before the court.
“For the avoidance of doubt, participation in the NYSC scheme is not a yardstick to be elected into any of the legislative houses or for ministerial appointment,” the judge ruled, granting all the reliefs sought by the former minister.
Violating Laws
Nigerian laws prescribe punishment for anyone who absconds from the NYSC scheme or forges its certificates.
Eligible Nigerians who skip the service are liable to be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and/or a N2,000 fine, according to Section 13 of the NYSC law.
Section 13 (3) of the law also prescribes a three-year jail term or a N5,000 fine for anyone who contravenes the provisions of the law.
Subsection 4 of the same section also criminalises giving false information or illegally obtaining the agency’s certificate. It provides for a jail term of up to three years for such offenders.
Perjury is also a criminal offence.
Section 117 of the Criminal Code Act says a person commits perjury if they: Lawfully take an oath (or affirmation), and knowingly give false testimony on a material matter, or make a statement they do not believe to be true
