* Dismisses suit against APGA, Stella Oduah
Alex Enumah in Abuja
A Federal High Court in Abuja, has held that non possession of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is not a ground for disqualification of a candidate in a senatorial election.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik stated this on Friday while delivering judgment in a suit seeking the disqualification of Senator Stella Oduah as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2027 senatorial election in Anambra North Senatorial District.
The suit dated July 24, was filed by an aspirant of APGA, John Okechukwu Emeka, challenging the nomination of the former senator as the candidate of the party in the forthcoming general election.
Oduah, APGA and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were first, second and third defendants respectively.
The plaintiff, through his lawyer, A. C. Ozioko, claimed that Oduah was not qualified to be on the ballot, on account of allegedly providing false information to INEC in her Form EC9, in aid of her qualification for the 2027 general election.
In a 23-paragraph affidavit he deposed to in support of the originating summons, the plaintiff alleged that Oduah in column E6 of her form EC9 submitted to INEC on July 11, 2026 denied on oath that she has never presented any forged certificate to INEC whereas in her affidavit of facts that she deposed in 2015 in support of her INEC form CFOOQ1 she deposed that she lost her First School Leaving Certificate and NYSC Corps certificate, whereas the issuing authorities had stated that she was never issued with those certificates.
While submitting that the First School Leaving Certificate is among the minimum requirement for anyone contesting for Senate, the plaintiff claimed that the first defendant is a graduate with a B.Sc. in Business Administration.
“That I know as a matter of fact that anyone who is a graduate in Nigeria must undergo the compulsory one year National Youth Service unless the person is exempted.
“That the first defendant had procured a letter from Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) presented same to the third defendant in order to make the third defendant believe that she completed her one year youth service whereas she absconded from the camp. Attached herewith as exhibit “M” Is a copy of the NYSC letter on the subject and a copy of the police investigation report on the matter which unveiled the fact that her name was not among those deployed for primary assignment.”
Delivering judgment on Friday, the court however dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.
The court, among others, faulted the commencement of the suit by an originating summons, stating that the case of forgery is a criminal offence which must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
On the issue of non-possession of NYSC certificate, the court held that it was not a ground for disqualifying any candidate in a senatorial election.
The court also agreed with Oduah’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) and APGA’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Mberi, that the issue of the former senator’s qualification to contest public office has been resolved by the election petition tribunal in 2019.
Meanwhile, the court struck out the case of the plaintiff for been statute barred, having been filed outside the 14 days provided by law.
APGA had submitted Oduah’s name as its candidate for the Anambra North Senatorial election on July 7, whereas the suit was filed on July 24, three days outside the time allowed by law.