Mum has been the word since Premium Times, an online newspaper, broke the report of the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun’s alleged forgery of her National Youth Service Corp exemption certificate. Not that she was ever the type that would want to hug the headlines at every opportunity, but she is desperately trying too hard to maintain a “dignified” silence. Except that she is actually not silent; as a matter of fact, she’s been screaming at our faces.
The report was straightforward. And it should have attracted a straightforward response. Or, what part of “I didn’t do it” is so difficult to say, or write?
So, Adeosun was accused of obtaining a fraudulent exemption letter, an equivalent of the discharge certificate, from the NYSC. Except that she wasn’t entitled to one, as she graduated before the age of 30. There are so many things obviously wrong with that provision in itself. I believe the NYSC scheme should have long been reviewed, reformed or even scrapped. Many are of the opinion that the scheme has already outlived its usefulness. But the law is the law. I do not personally see any sense in a woman in her late 30s, or early 40s, enrolling for the youth service, just to fulfil righteousness, when she had practically spent her entire life in another country. Adeosun immediately became the victim of a system that is flawed and has refused to reform itself. Our country doesn’t even require a university degree to run for political office, yet requires one to register for N30,000- a-month N-Power programme.
However, at the root of Adeosun’s crisis is not the fact that she chose to skip the NYSC altogether, but that she is alleged to have skipped it fraudulently, and had been more in keeping the scandal a secret.
Sometime in 2002, according to reports, she returned to Nigeria, where she worked for some high profile private firms before becoming the finance commissioner in her native Ogun State in 2011. It must have been during one of the interviews for her many jobs that the need for the NYSC document became an issue. Knowing how irrelevant the scheme had become in the last couple of decades, she must have thought getting past its barrier would be the easiest of tasks. Or so it seemed. It was. Until some senators discovered the alleged fraud.
Adeosun allegedly applied for an exemption certificate. But when she was informed she wasn’t entitled to one as she graduated at 22, she allegedly found another way. According to the Premium Times’ report, it is alleged that the alleged fraud was discovered during the screening in 2015 by senators, who promptly cashed in. It is claimed they offered to suppress the information for money. The Department of Security Service, which screens political appointees, needs to tell us how, with its forensic lenses, it missed that kind of information.
If truly Mrs Adeosun chose to play along with blackmailers, she has committed a huge fraud with Nigeria’s finances. If she was defrauded into getting a fake NYSC document, then she needs to come clean. Not even has the NYSC itself helped matters at all. In a bland statement, the agency claimed to be investigating how the minister obtained its letter. It has gone silent ever since. And the Federal Government? Zilch. The government rather appears to be pulling all the strings to let the finance minister off the hook. If not for the fact that the NYSC DG post is occupied by a soldier, perhaps the arm-twisting would have gone more according to plan.
So, the Buhari government, by its action and inaction, has proved it would condone illegality, if it is committed by one of them. The least Mrs Adeosun could have done, was to have issued a statement, explaining how she got her certificate. If she got it fraudulently as alleged, she needs to step aside. But she has explored none of the honourable options. Rather, she has followed a bad advice of keeping mum. Ostensibly, because she knows Nigerians are easily distracted. In a month or two, no one would be talking about her again, she assumes. So, instead of speaking, and removing all doubts, why not keep quiet, and weather the storm, until the matter dies a natural death? Smart.
What the British-trained Adeosun doesn’t understand is that, she has spoken very loudly with her silence. So loud is her sound, that we advise she should tone it down a bit. Does she take us all for fools? And the government that has continued to carry on as if the case of forging official documents is no longer a big deal, should note that citizens are observing them quite well. And are taking notes. If a minister accused of a crime is being shielded by an administration that touts integrity and anti-corruption, the joke is on them.
Olufemi Oluwaseye, LASU-Igando Road, Lagos, 09034706835
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