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Adebayo Shittu: ‘I Don’t Think I Have Violated the Law by Dodging NYSC’

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu who yesterday reacted to claims that he never went for the mandatory one year NYSC program, has further stated that he broke no law.

Adebayo Shittu who spoke newsmen in Abuja yesterday, told those present that his case could not be compared to that of the former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun. The Minister who is one of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants in Oyo State, spoke after being interviewed by the APC screening committee.

He told newsmen;

‘I left university in 1978 and left Law School in 1979. And the Constitution says anyone who qualifies to contest an election or who has gone through an election and wins, he is obligated to move through the House of Assembly which I did for four years. So it is a form of higher service as far as I’m concerned, and even now, I am still in service. I don’t think I have violated the law except someone has a superior argument and can prove it’.

He added that his case can’t be compared to that of Kemi Adeosun, because he didn’t present a fake NYSC certificate.

“Unfortunately, Kemi had a fake certificate, I didn’t present any, I didn’t have one. I simply followed the constitutional requirement that if you are qualified to contest an election, it is compulsory for you to serve the nation in the capacity that you won an election,” he said.

This is coming a week after Kemi Adeosun was compelled to step down from her post as Nigeria’s finance minister after it was reported that she skipped national service, and then procured a fake exemption certificate to cover her tracks.

However it should be also noted that Section 12 of the NYSC Act, mandates all employers to demand the national service certificate of prospective employees before hiring. Section 12 of the Act.