The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has directed the Minister of Interior, Mr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to file and serve his reply to a counter affidavit before the next hearing in a suit seeking to compel the National Youth Service Corps and the Federal Capital Territory Administration to produce records relating to his national service.
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Hon. Justice Salim Ibrahim gave the directive when the matter came up for hearing.
The order is, however, procedural and relates specifically to the Minister’s application to be joined in the suit as the third respondent. The court has not determined the joinder application, has not ordered the NYSC or FCTA to release any document and has made no finding on whether Tunji-Ojo participated in or completed the mandatory national service.
The suit was instituted by the Incorporated Trustees of Pathway to Equity and Charity Foundation, which is seeking an order of mandamus compelling the NYSC, as first respondent, and the FCTA, as second respondent, to disclose records concerning the Minister’s national service.
Among the documents sought from the NYSC are Tunji-Ojo’s mobilisation or call-up letter issued in 2006 or any other year, his posting letter to the FCTA, application for mobilisation, evidence of approval for his remobilisation by the Director-General, records of allowances paid to him, his “book of life,” Community Development Service records and discharge certificate.
The foundation is also asking the FCTA to produce any mobilisation or call-up letter and posting letter in its possession, as well as Tunji-Ojo’s attendance records during the service year, evidence of allowances allegedly paid to him and records of his Community Development Service.
At the hearing, counsel to the applicant, Mr. Solomon Akuma, SAN, informed the court that he was ready to proceed.
However, Mr. Abiola Olaniji, who appeared for the Minister, told the court that Tunji-Ojo had filed an application seeking to be joined as the third respondent because of his interest in the subject matter of the proceedings.
Olaniji said the applicant had filed a counter affidavit raising issues to which the Minister needed to respond and consequently sought time to file a reply.
Akuma opposed the joinder application, arguing that Tunji-Ojo was not a proper party to the action because the substantive reliefs sought were orders compelling the NYSC and FCTA to produce documents allegedly in their custody and not documents held by the Minister.
Justice Ibrahim consequently adjourned the matter and directed the Minister to file and serve his response before the next hearing, leaving the question of whether he should be joined in the suit for subsequent determination.
In a 25-paragraph affidavit filed in support of the action, the Chairman of the foundation’s Board of Trustees, Mr. Uchenna Ejimafor, described the organisation as a non-governmental body involved in exposing documents and reporting alleged corruption, bribery and abuse of office in public and private institutions.
Ejimafor averred that Tunji-Ojo had represented himself publicly as having completed the mandatory one-year national service and having undertaken his primary assignment with the FCTA. He further claimed that the foundation’s “discreet investigation” indicated that the Minister did not serve with the Administration in 2006 or any other year.
The allegation remains an averment by the foundation and has not been tested or determined by the court.
According to the affidavit, the organisation subsequently wrote through its solicitors requesting the relevant records in order to verify its findings but alleged that the respondents failed or refused to release them.
It relied on the Freedom of Information Act in seeking judicial intervention to compel disclosure of the records.
The controversy surrounding Tunji-Ojo’s national service had earlier attracted a response from the NYSC in a letter dated August 8, 2023, signed by Mr. B. A. Fasakin for the Director-General.
According to that account, Tunji-Ojo was mobilised and deployed to the Federal Capital Territory in 2006 but subsequently “absconded” from the scheme. The Corps stated that he resurfaced in 2019, was remobilised and posted to the Federal Capital Development Authority for his primary assignment.
The NYSC further stated that his certificate was unavailable at the passing-out stage because his name had been omitted from the certificate-printing application. It said he later applied for the certificate through the FCT State Coordinator on October 18, 2022, following which Certificate No. A004523631 was produced for collection on February 28, 2023.
The issue also arose during Tunji-Ojo’s ministerial screening in August 2023, when Senator Sadiq Umar questioned the timing of his national service and the dates associated with his certificate.
Tunji-Ojo responded that he graduated before attaining the age of 30 and said he performed his national service between November 2019 and November 2020.
Questions were subsequently raised because the stated service period overlapped with his tenure as a member of the House of Representatives, having been elected in 2019. Questions were also raised over the fact that the certificate was produced in February 2023, more than two years after the period he said he completed service, and bore the signature of Brigadier-General Yushau Ahmed, who became NYSC Director-General in January 2023.
It was further reported that Tunji-Ojo’s state code was absent from a relevant FCT corps members’ magazine. An NYSC official, however, explained that omissions in such publications could result from administrative or production errors and were not, by themselves, proof that a person did not participate in the scheme.
The controversy later became the subject of a police investigation, which was reported in March 2026 to have cleared the Minister of an allegation of certificate forgery.
The police investigation report dated March 4, 2026, stated that the NYSC confirmed Certificate No. A004523631 as valid, authentic and contained in its official records. It further stated that Tunji-Ojo was remobilised in November 2019 and completed the requirements of the service scheme.
The report treated questions surrounding the timing and circumstances of his service as administrative matters falling within the regulatory authority of the NYSC.
There is, however, an apparent discrepancy between the two official accounts concerning why Tunji-Ojo did not complete his initial service in 2006.
While the NYSC letter of August 8, 2023 reportedly stated that he “absconded” after his initial mobilisation, the police investigation report of March 4, 2026 attributed the interruption to “verified medical reasons.”
The two descriptions have not been reconciled in the material presently available, and neither constitutes a finding by the Federal High Court in the pending case.
For now, the issue before Justice Ibrahim remains whether Tunji-Ojo should be formally joined as a party to the proceedings. The substantive request seeking disclosure of his NYSC and FCTA records has yet to be determined.
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