The National Youth Service Corp’s (NYSC) opposition to the N20 billion lawsuit brought by Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu state regarding the veracity of his release certificate has been overruled by Judge Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

The agency was sued by Governor Mbah for N20 billion in damages for allegedly conspiring against him and for intentionally misrepresenting the truth.

However, in their response to the lawsuit, the NYSC objected, saying that Governor Mbah should have first petitioned or appealed to the Presidency if he felt wronged by any actions or statements made by the NYSC regarding his certificate, rather than going directly to court. Aminu Sadauki, the NYSC’s attorney, stated that this was their stance.

He claimed that before going to court, the governor missed his chance to use the procedure outlined in Section 20 of the NYSC Act.

The Governor instructed the court to dismiss the objection in his response to it, though.

Mbah asserted that he is not covered by Section 20 of the NYSC Act, as mentioned by the lawyer for NYSC, through his attorney Chief Emeka Ozoani, SAN.

Mbah told the court to dismiss the objection on the ground that he is neither a serving Corps member nor an employee of the NYSC.

The applicant, NYSC, cited Section 20 of the NYSC Act in his decision, but Justice Ekwo ruled that it does not apply to the applicant’s respondent.

According to him, that section is only applicable to serving members of the NYSC.

“I am minded to agree with the Plaintiff on whom the provision of Section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004 applies. This means that the provision has a category of persons to whom it is applicable.

“A keen perusal of the provision of Section 22 (1) and (2) of the Act would reveal that it sets out the person to whom the provision of S. 20 of the Act applies, which is a ‘member of the service corps’, which is defined to mean a person registered as a member of the service corps.

“It is then stated in Section 21 (2) that for the purpose of the Act, the reference to a ‘member of the service corps’ includes, unless to the context otherwise requires or it is otherwise expressly provided, a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member.

“It is rather sad that the objection of the defendant (NYSC) has been used to waste the time of this court, this objection is hereby struck out.

“The substantive matter is adjourned to September 21 and 22, 2023 for hearing”, the court held.