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By Myke Agunwa, Abuja
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the alleged withholding of corps member Ushie Uguamaye’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate over her criticism of economic hardship! in the country, describing it as unacceptable.
Ms Uguamaye grabbed the headlines earlier in the year following her viral TikTok video in which she criticised President Tinubu’s administration and described Lagos as “smelling”.
The Lagos youth corps member popularly known as “Raye”, alleged that National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has withheld her discharge certificate in alleged retaliation for her comments.
Atiku in his X handle on Sunday, described the situation as “unacceptable” and potentially politically motivated, adding that it was wrong to punish a citizen for exercising her right to free expression.
He urged the authorities to act swiftly to resolve the matter, warning that such incidents undermine public trust in national institutions.
“What manner of impunity is this? Everything should not be subjected to politics.
“I hope that Ushie Rita Uguamaye’s NYSC discharge certificate is not being withheld because she had the courage to complain about the economic hardship under the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
“It is unacceptable that the young lady, who had served her country without queries, should not have received her National Youth Service Corps certificate one year after passing out.
“The appropriate authorities should take urgent steps to ensure that she gets her discharge certificate.”
Raye said that NYSC officials claimed that she failed to do her April clearance on the scheduled date, a claim she strongly refuted.
According to her, she had presented herself for clearance but was repeatedly told by her Local Government Inspector to wait.
Raye alleged that the LGI later refused to clear her, seized her file, and asked her to leave the office.
She said in the vlog, “I did not get my NYSC certificate today after one year of serving this country.
“I literally went there with my cohort, or should I say the people we served together, and when it got to my turn, they said no certificate for you.”
Raye rejected the NYSC’s explanation, insisting she had shown up for clearance but was deliberately denied by her Local Government Inspector, who, she alleged, seized her file.
She also revealed in an accompanying caption that, ”After one year of moving to another man’s land, to serve my country, ended with no certificate and telling me to come for final verdict that we already know how it’ll end.
“I genuinely wish I wasn’t a Lagos state Corper because it’s a waste of my time. I can’t say moving here was bad but serving here isn’t all pleasure.
“Just to add to it, they said the reason I’m not getting my certificate is because I didn’t clear myself for the month of April on my scheduled date.
“But what they aren’t saying is how I was present to get cleared, yet the LGI kept asking me to go to the back, and when she finally wanted to attend to me, she said she wouldn’t clear me.
“She seized my file and told me to get out. This is a long story, and I don’t mind waking up at midnight to tell the story.
“The deep-rooted anger I feel and hatred is crazy because I don’t know who to direct it to.
“But I wish myself the best. And I’m closing this chapter.”
The NYSC discharge certificate is issued to Nigerian graduates who successfully complete the one-year national service.
As of the time of filing this report, the NYSC had yet to respond to the allegations.