A Federal High Court in Abuja says a candidate cannot be disqualified from an election for refusing to engage in the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
The court issued this statement on Wednesday when a former senator, Iyabo Anisulowo, filed a lawsuit against the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
Mr Abiodun’s spokesman sent details of the judgment to reporters.
The pre-election suit questioned Mr Abiodun’s eligibility due to his inability to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
The NYSC was founded in 1973 and involvement is compulsory for all Nigerians who graduate from a tertiary institution in or outside the nation before they reach the age of 30.
The submission of the NYSC discharge certificate granted at the end of the one-year plan is a necessity for jobs in the formal sector in Nigeria.
Last year, the All Progressive Congress (APC) ruling disqualified Adebayo Shittu, then Minister of Communications, from running elections in his governorship in Oyo State after being exposed for skipping the NYSC scheme after graduating in law in the late 1970s.
Despite the revelation of dodging the NYSC, President Muhammadu Buhari permitted Mr Shittu to stay as a minister until last month’s dissolution of the federal executive council.
His disqualification from the APC primaries was contested by the former minister but the court rejected his suit against the party.
Mr Shittu also accused the APC of double standards for enabling some aspirants like Mr Abiodun to run for their tickets despite being graduates, even though they were also accused of skipping the NYSC scheme.
The former minister also sued the NYSC, arguing that participating in the NYSC is not a public office necessity.
Also last year, Kemi Adeosun was compelled to step down as finance minister after it was disclosed to have forged a NYSC exemption certificate that enabled her to be cleared for appointment by President Buhari first as commissioner in Ogun State and then as minister in 2015.
Before she was 30 years old, Mrs Adeosun graduated from an institution in the United Kingdom, which made her eligible for NYSC involvement.
An exemption certificate is only given to Nigerians over 25 years of age when they graduate, those serving in the army or security forces, or those who are exempt on medical grounds.
However, the situation of Mrs Adeosun differs from that of Messrs Shittu and Abiodun because they did not use forged NYSC certificates nor did they falsely pretend to have participated or to have been exempted from them.
His counsel, Wale Ajayi, had prayed to the court to reject the case against his client in the lawsuit against Mr Abiodun of Ogun State, stating involvement in the NYSC system is not a necessity for election involvement.
In his judgement, Justice M A Mohammed rejected the notice of preliminary objection from Mr Abiodun and proceeded to pass judgement on the substantive suit.
The judge also observed that the complainant failed to establish that Mr Abiodun had presented the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with fake scholarly allegations.
He held that the NYSC Act does not stipulate disqualification from elections for a candidate who failed to participate in the NYSC scheme.
The judge pointed out that only on the basis of Section 177 of the Constitution can a candidate be disqualified and subsequently rejected the suit.
The section states: “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if: (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; (b) he has attained the age of thirty-five years; (c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party, and (d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”
The court said the suit lacked merit since Mr Abiodun did not breach any of these regulations.
The implication of the judgement is that NYSC certificates are no longer required for applicants seeking election to contest governorship elections in Nigeria.
The case is the last of a sequence of pre-election cases brought against the governor of Ogun in court. Similarly, the other instances were rejected.
The Supreme Court rejected a comparable case brought by Abdulrafiu Baruwa only on Monday, challenging Mr Abiodun’s qualification on the ground of failure to disclose all his academic qualifications.
