Justice Ekwo held that upon studying the statement of Mbah’s claim, he found no place where it was stated that the governor was either “a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member.”
By Jeffrey Agbo
A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the preliminary objection filed by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) against Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah’s N20 billion suit over claims of certificate forgery.
Ruling on Friday, Justice Inyang Ekwo said the preliminary objection lacked merit.
Justice Ekwo said that the provision of Section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004 which the corps based its objection on was not applicable to Mbah since he was not a serving corps member.
“Again, I am minded to agree with the plaintiff (Mbah) on whom the provision of Section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004 applies.
“This means that the provision has a category of persons to whom it is applicable.
“A keen perusal of the provision of Section 22 (1) and (2) of the Act would reveal that it sets out the person to whom the provision of Section 20 of the Act applies which is a ‘member of the service corps’ which is defined to mean a person registered as a member of the service corps.
“It is then stated in Section 21 (2) that for the purpose of the Act, the reference to a ‘member of the service corps’ includes, unless to the context otherwise requires or it is otherwise expressly provided, a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member.
“The major characteristic of the provision of Section 21 (1) and (2) of the Act, is that the draftsman puts wordings thereof in the present tense and not past tense.
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“It makes the provision applicable to ‘a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member,’” he said.
Justice Ekwo held that upon studying the statement of Mbah’s claim, he found no averment or claim thereof where it was stated that the governor was either “a prospective member of the service corps or any person who is a registered member.”
He said it was a settled law, without prejudice to the position of the law, that “the jurisdiction of a court is determined by the subject matter of the action and the claim before the court.”
“Consequently, I find that the substance of the preliminary objection of the defendants is not predicated on a proper interpretation of the provision of Section 20 of the NYSC Act, 2004 and therefore premised on erroneous consideration of the said provision.
“It is rather sad that this preliminary objection has been used to waste the time of the court and consequently divert proceedings in this case from the substantive matter,” he said.
Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter until September 21 and 22 for hearing.
Mbah sued the NYSC and its Director, Corps Certification, Ibrahim Muhammad, for publishing a disclaimer, denying the issuance of a discharge certificate issued to him on January 6, 2003.