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BREAKING: Adebayo Shittu sues NYSC, says I wasn’t invited for youth service

Published

6 years ago

October 15, 2018

The Minister of Communications , Adebayo Shittu , has sued the National Youth Service Corps , alleging that the body failed to serve him with a call- up letter in 1979 to enable him to observe the mandatory one – year national youth service , while he was still below the age of 30 .The minister filed the suit marked FHC / IB /CS / 111 / 2018 before the Federal High Court in Ibadan , the Oyo State capital, through his lawyer , Mr Olalekan Ojo ( SAN ) .

Joined as defendants in the suit are Director General , NYSC ; the Oyo State Coordinator , NYSC ; the NYSC and the Attorney General of the Federation .

The minister is urging the court to declare that the NYSC had waived his obligation to observe the one – year compulsory service by allegedly failing to serve him with a call – up letter in 1979 after he finished from the Nigerian Law School.

The suit followed Shittu ’ s disqualification from Oyo State governorship race by his party, the All Progressives Congress .

The party had screened him out of its governorship primary in Oyo State after it became known that Shittu skipped the compulsory national youth service .
But relying on Section 2 ( 1 ) of the National Youth Service Corps Act , 1973 , Shittu , who read Law from the University of Ife , now Obafemi Awolowo University , and graduated in 1978 , contended that his failure to serve should be blamed on the NYSC .

He is urging the court to declare that “ the possession of the NYSC Discharge or Exemption Certificate is not one of the requirements for the appointment of the plaintiff as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or for his election as a state Governor or as a senator , pursuant to sections 147 , 177 and 65 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria . ”

Shittu prayed the court to perpetually restrain the NYSC and the other defendants from calling upon him to serve under the NYSC scheme “ or from imposing any liability on or making the plaintiff to suffer any liability , be it civil or criminal , on account of his purported non – service under the NYSC scheme. ”

He urged the court to order the NYSC to issue to him a Certificate of National Service , “ having served the nation as member of the Oyo State House of Assembly immediately after graduating from the Nigerian Law School. ”

In the alternative , he wants the court to order the NYSC to issue to him an Exemption Certificate in view of his service as a lawmaker in Oyo State .