Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, has condemned the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for unlawfully withholding the discharge certificate of Lagos corps member Ushie Rita Uguamaye, calling the act an unjust retaliation against her criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies .
Falana, who stressed that the NYSC’s seizure of the certificate was not supported by any court order and is therefore illegal, likened the action to a historical precedent from 1988 when the NYSC confiscated the discharge certificate of the late Bamidele Aturu—who had declined an award from a military governor—during the Ibrahim Babangida regime.
He characterized the present incident as a “cheap demonstration of over-zealousness”.
Invoking Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, Falana underscored every Nigerian’s fundamental right to freely criticize the government—even when serving in the NYSC .
He also recalled President Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech, in which the president himself said that “no one should suffer injustice for simply writing a negative report about me or calling me,” arguing that the NYSC should honor this stance by promptly releasing Rita’s certificate .
