Date: 2018-10-23

Ahead of the 2019 elections, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, Hon. Razak Atunwa, Monday denied the report that he forged his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.

An online medium, Premium Times, had reported that Atunwa skipped the mandatory NYSC and forged the certificate of the scheme.

The online medium had said Atunwa, a former speaker of the state House of Assembly, stayed back in the UK after his education rather than present himself for the scheme.

According to the report, "It is not clear if the House of Representatives member presented any NYSC certificate in 2005 when he returned to Nigeria and joined the cabinet of Bukola Saraki, then governor of state."

However, Atunwa said that he did not submit any unsupported NYSC certificate as suggested by the online medium.

The PDP gubernatorial candidate said: "I did not submit any unsupported NYSC certificate as suggested by you (Premium Times).

"I strongly advise that you verify each and every assertion you wish to make. You may wish to make formal enquiries/verifications of all institutions concerned.

"You should also be circumspect enough to authenticate the provenance of any document you may be handed if it's not from a formal and official source.

"An organisation such as yours should not fall short of the required legal and ethical standards."