Buhari's campaign director Festus Keyamo says NYSC should be given time to respond to Adeosun claims

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari's campaign manager Festus Keyamo has asked Nigerians to give the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) secretariat more time to respond to allegations that finance minister Kemi Adeosun forged an exemption certificate.

 

Last weekend, national daily Premium Times, revealed that Ms Adeosun, 51, an economist and chartered accountant, forged an NYSC exemption certificate to enable her serve in government. According to the report, Ms Adeosun’s certificate is dated September 9, 2009 and was signed by Yusuf Bomoi, a former NYSC director-general who passed away in September last year but he had stepped down eight months earlier in January 2009, so could not have signed it.

 

Since the story broke, Ms Adeosun has refused to comment and the presidency has also been mum amid calls for her to be sacked and charged for criminal conduct. Several civil suits have already been filed in court, asking that President Buhari sack Ms Adeosun and have her charged with criminal conduct.

 

In the first official response since the story broke,. Mr Keyamo, the director of strategic communications of President Buhari's re-election campaign, said that maybe the NYSC was still working on an official response. Appearing on Channels Television’s programme, Hard Talk, Mr Keyamo appear to plead for the agency to be given more time.

 

He added: “There is a mentality that if agencies don’t respond in 24 or 48 hours, it is Armageddon. The agency has said give us a few days, we will respond.

 

Asked how difficult it was to respond, he added: “I don’t know. I have not worked with the NYSC, so I don’t know if they have tons of documents. Do they have 36 vaults or one central vault? I don’t know.”

 

Last week, NYSC said available records indicated that Ms Adeosun did apply for an exemption certificate. However, the agency did not confirm if her application was approved or not and whether she was indeed issued with an exemption certificate in response to her application.

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