 A federal high court in Abu Dhabi has ruled that the former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adyushan, was not eligible for a mandatory one-year national service. The court presided over by Justice Taiwo Taiwo said she was not obliged to present herself for the National Youth Service, which is the NYSE mobilisation, under the 1979 Constitution, as she was not a Nigerian citizen at the time of her graduation, or when she turned 30. According to the ruling, the Constitution does not require her to present the first-degree certificate or any other document, including discharge or exemption for a political appointment. And so her ministerial appointment was not illegal. Neither was it unconstitutional, even without presenting the NYSE certificate. Well, to break this all down, joining me to discuss is Byodo Shoumi and Achuke Chuli, both public affairs analysts. Thank you very much, gentlemen. It's my pleasure. Great. So I'm going to start with you, Byodo. She wasn't a Nigerian citizen at the time, the statement says, of her graduation, and even before she turned 30. So I'm trying to understand, yes, maybe she wasn't holding a Nigerian passport, so she's called abroad, but this judgment is exonerating her on that basis. But there were other claims, you know, other than the fact that she didn't do her NYSE, there were claims of surgery. Is that also being struck off by this court judgment, by the federal High Court? Yes. Thank you for that. We need to remember one thing. Ms. Adi Oshun went to court to seek for constitutional interpretation of the 1979 constitution, whether it applied to her or not. The court held that the 1979 constitution, which they don't recognize, do a citizen. You know, prescribed the NYSE strictly not to be undertaken by Nigerians only. Therefore, by virtue of the 1979 constitution, when she graduated, she wouldn't have been eligible. You know, that's a very straightforward matter. And the second angle to the question is the fact that the issue of forgery was not before the court. That was not before the court. Don't forget, Ms. Kemi Adi Oshun went to the court through a cancer, to seek for constitutional interpretation. She was not tried, arraigned by the Nigerian police force before the criminal justice system in any form. So, therefore, the simple point of law, which she sought the court to clarify. Are you still there, Mr. Shoomi? Let's go on to Achike. Achike, I want you to take it from where he stopped. Yes, I understand clearly that this is what she went to court for. But there was a certificate in the mix which was not given or issued directly by the NYSE. She has been exonerated that the constitution does allow her to be a minister legally in the country. But what about the case of forgery, even though it's not before the court? Yeah, when, you know, sometimes, you know, when you have this kind of issues, it's only the court that can have the financing. We know that was why, you know, she sought the interpretation of the court and the court has spoken. But she was not removed as minister. She did not resign as minister. Don't forget that she resigned, you know, on her own. She was not sought as minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I think the claim, you know, through her lawyer was that she did not want to be, she did not want the government she served to be distracted, you know, by, you know, the allegations that were swearing around her. You know, so she resigned. And so that is what the court looked at and said, look, you had really had no business resigning at that particular point in time. But because, again, I think she wanted to preserve her dignity as a person and she didn't want that situation to continue to dot her. But beyond that, again, is that the major reason why the whole controversy started in the first place was because of the allegation of forgery. Unfortunately, she has not been cleared of indicted over that allegation. You know, I'm not sure anybody has. I was about to ask if somebody has taken that case to court. I mean, because we have to look into that. Yeah. Go on. I think we're having connection issues and I think there's a delay. But you can go ahead. I was also only trying to say that I don't, I do not know and not aware of any court case in terms of the forgery. But of course she went to court just to clarify the fact that, you know, this constitution did not apply to her and the fact that, you know, her ministerial appointment was not illegal. But you were saying something so I didn't want to distract you. Yeah, I think what would have happened really is that, you know, it means that whatever certificate was produced could not have been an authentic certificate in the first place because she didn't even need it. And then it is the process of getting that certificate. If you remember the NYC came in at the time they were having this contradictory, you know, statements and all that. But I think basically she could not have resigned if she knew that she was in the right. That is the way I rate the whole of distance. Of course the court has declared that she never did it in the first place. But it was produced on her behalf as having come from the stable of the NYC and that was contentious because at the time the NYC now weighed into it. And after some, you know, back and forth about whether they was released from them or not, it became clear that it could not have come through the normal process at the NYC. So perhaps the court has spoken on this matter of whether she was entitled through the constitutional order to become a minister and to remain a minister. The court says has ruled in her favor. But whether the issue of, you know, forgery if it had been instituted against her, whether she would have won it is very, very contentious. It is very, very likely that she would have lost that particular case if there had been the case. Okay. Let me go back to Biara Shoemi. Let's look at how this impacts on the politics of Nigeria and, you know, office holders. Because this some people would say was a political witch hunt. Some other people would say that, you know, if she left no stone unturned she probably wouldn't have found herself in this mess. But we see things like this happen. And I'll give you another example. The former minister for communications also had a case of, you know, his NYSC. And recently we've heard people try to kick against the National Youth Service Corps. You know, some people have advocated for it to be banned. What role does it really play, politically, in running any office, having an NYSC certificate? Well, when you look at this very particular situation, if it's required by law, by the NYSC Act, that people must go on that NYSC service, then it's important for us to ensure that we do that even if you are still within the cut-off age, you know, range of participating in it. And when you look at this very particular case, I really sympathize with Kemiha De Osho. Because what she has tried to do, this legal interpretation, is to de-rise, you know, the fact that she was forced to resign, it's more or less like humiliated art of service. She does not have a minister of finance, you know, being accused of luxury. And the document turned out, and not only that, the issue in authority denied issue that to her. So that was a major issue. It was very compelling for her to resign. And I thank her for that, and I think she did very well, you know, to take some responsibility at the time. But to now come back and attempt to de-rise, you know, the situation, you know, present herself in a different way. She will still need to make sure that the allegation of what is clear. And that can only be done by the criminal justice system. It cannot be done through interpretation of the Constitution, but it can only be done through being processed through the criminal justice system. This case is totally different from the case of Professor Adenike Grinch, the former minister of state for health, who was caught off in an issue involving money with Yabo, or Baso Dior and all that, when she was a senator, over a trip together. The woman was eventually cleared of all the allegations involved. That's totally different. In this case, she has not been tried. She only went before the court to seek an interpretation of the 1979 Constitution, as it applied to her, but not about the issue of poetry. So therefore, I think it's important we understand that the case is not actually about NYC, the certificate or not being having NYC certificate. The case was actually about possession and presentation of a forged document from the NYC in the process of securing an appointment. Of course, we now know that she didn't need to do that in the process. So why then go ahead and forge a document? If, as I let you do, if indeed it's true, that's the major issue which led to her resignation. Back to you, Chike, in closing, she claims this as a victory for her and many Nigerians in diaspora. So just like Mrs. Choumi has said, she went to a court for an interpretation, not necessarily to exonerate her on the grounds of forgery. Is this a victory worth celebrating in that regard? No, no, it is in a way you could say that the judgment was favorable to her in a way, but not all the way. Because again, the basis of the entire controversy that surrounded her was the basis of accusation of certificate forgery. It was on the basis of the controversy that followed that led her to resign. But if there was something positive anybody would have said about her, was that action of resignation because it is usually against the Nigerian character. We wish that more Nigerian politicians, when they get embroiled in controversies like this or other controversies, would also go the whole way, the whole hog and resign. And that would have stood her in good stead among a lot of Nigerians. So from that perspective, yes, she would have a typical politician that is caught with stolen meat were shot from now to high heavens that he did not steal anything, even though you see it on his sons. You know, he will fight all the way using the resources of the state which are stolen in the first place to try to exonerate himself even when it is glad that he's guilty. She did not do that. And so that was unusual. Maybe because of her background and where she is coming from, where there is a dignity attached to the office that they occupy. And so when you have this kind of controversy, you try to leave the stage. But beyond that, the issue of forgery has not been, because that's not what the case is all about. And I think she should just go and relax and bask in the glory of this particular victory that said she had no reason resigning. But if somebody had taken her on, that's the question we should ask ourselves. Would she stand scrutiny with regards to the certificate that was given to her as a discharge certificate by the NYSE? So if I'm the one, I would advise her to let sleeping dogs lie. Otherwise that matter can be resurrected and it might not turn out favorably. All right. Well, Biotto Shoumi is a political analyst and of course Chiki Trude also a public affairs analyst. Thank you very much gentlemen for being part of the conversation. We appreciate it. You are a pleasure. All right. Well, thank you all for staying with us on the program tonight. It's been a very interesting conversation that we've had from the beginning to the end. I'll see you tomorrow with brand new stories on politics. I am Mary Annacle. Thank you for watching.