Temisan Olaifa
A former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said that she resigned as a minister from the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari in September 2018 to protect the Office of the Minister of Finance.
Adeosun made this known on Friday when she appeared on a Channels Television programme, Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, responding to the issue of her exemption from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
She stated that her resignation was a deliberate decision taken to protect the Office of the Minister of Finance, and allow her to clear her reputation legally.
She said, “People kept asking why I resigned? That no one resigns as minister of finance as I did? I still think it was the right thing for me to do.
“My resignation is a matter of principle and not an admission of wrongdoing. It was a step to protect the Office of the Minister of Finance and defend my reputation. I can’t be attending local and international meetings as minister of finance, and also appearing in a court in a case of integrity and reputation.”
The former minister noted that remaining in office while pursuing a lawsuit against the government would have been inappropriate.
She added, “I knew I would need to go to court to clear my name, and doing so was not compatible with being Minister of Finance representing Nigeria at the highest level.
“I went to see Mr. President and I said, ‘Mr. President, I need to go. I need to go to court because I have to clear my name’. Mr. President supported my decision to approach the court to clear my name through legal means.
“These names are leased from our children and our grandchildren. You don’t destroy your name because you want to stay as a minister.”
A Federal High Court in Abuja had in July 2021 ruled that Adeosun was ineligible for the National Youth Service Corps.
The court said she was not supposed to present herself for National Youth Service because under the 1979 Constitution, which was in force at the time of her graduation, she was not a Nigerian citizen either at the time of her graduation or when she turned 30.
Adeosun graduated from the University of East London in 1989 at the age of 22.
According to the ruling, the constitution does not require her to present her first-degree certificate or any other certificate, including the NYSC certificate, to be appointed a minister.
The court, presided over by Justice Taiwo Taiwo, ruled that the ministerial appointment of Adeosun was not illegal, nor was it unconstitutional, even without presenting the NYSC certificate.
In its ruling on a suit for constitutional interpretation filed at the court in March 2021 by the firm of Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, on behalf of Adeosun, the court said since the 1979 constitution, which was in force at the time did not recognise dual citizenship, Adeosun could not have served because she was a British citizen.
The court ruled that Nigerian citizenship only reverted under the extant constitution by which time Adeosun was well above 30, and by the court ruling, ineligible to participate in the NYSC scheme as the scheme is exclusively reserved for Nigerians.
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