The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has disowned the discharge certificate tendered by former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Uche Nnaji, telling the court that the document did not emanate from it and highlighting four major defects that rendered it fake.
Yusuf Abubakar Jumare, an Assistant Director in the Corps’ Certification Department, testified on Tuesday as the prosecution’s second witness before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik.
He said an inquiry prompted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) found that the document was fake.
Nnaji, a former minister and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Enugu State’s forthcoming governorship election, faces six charges, including alleged forgery of an NYSC discharge certificate and a University of Nigeria, Nsukka, degree certificate, as well as money-laundering allegations. He has pleaded not guilty.
Jumare identified four discrepancies that, in the prosecution’s view, showed the certificate could not have been authentic, deepening the forgery case against the politician.
The certificate number, purportedly issued in 1985, carried an “A” prefix that the NYSC did not begin using until 1990.
The call-up number, 0137, contained four digits, while 1985 call-up numbers had five.
The document described a service period of 13 months, rather than the standard 12 calendar months.
It was signed by a “National General,” although the corps’ chief executive was designated “Director” during the period in question.
Prosecutors tendered correspondence between the ICPC and the NYSC concerning the disputed document.
The court admitted the exhibits, while the defense said it would raise objections to their admissibility later because it had not yet been served with copies.
Under cross-examination by Bode Olanikpekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, representing Nnaji, Jumare maintained that the NYSC did not issue the certificate.
He said his department keeps records of all corps certificates, which are issued only after completion of the mandatory service year.
But the witness acknowledged that he had not checked whether the NYSC had ever issued any certificate to Nnaji.
The defense team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, did not immediately present an alternative account of the document’s origins.
Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the case to November 30 for continued cross-examination of Jumare and to January 29, 2027, for the resumption of trial.
