The Concerned Citizens Forum (CCF) has called for strict punishment for the “disgraced and dismissed” former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig-Gen MK Fadah to serve as a deterrent to other public office holders.

The group, at a press conference, in Abuja, demanded that Fadah returns all his earnings as NYSC DG and salaries from the Nigerian Army since October 2020.

In his address, Musa M. Attah, National President/Convener, said it stands by the petition written against Fadah to demand his sack.

According to Attah, not only is the Brigadier General unqualified for the job, he displayed gross incompetence in six months in charge.

The Concerned Citizens Forum, therefore, rubished a report by a group, Yobe Elders Forum, which attempted to exonerate Fadah of any wrongdoing.

“We find it shocking that rather than arranging for legal representation to help the disgraced general reduce whatever sentence would come his way from a possible trial in court, the group is alleging that people conspired against him to have him booted out of office,” Attah said.

“For history not to be distorted in favour of law breakers, it is pertinent to remind Nigerians, particularly the Yobe Elders Forum that President Muhammadu Buhari fired Brigadier General M. K Fadah owing to gross incompetence, which we reasonably believe stemmed from his lack of qualification to have occupied the post in the first place.

“In addition, the criminal component of Fadah’s six month in that capacity has to do with his falsification and forgery of credentials, age falsification, evasion of the mandatory one year youth service and misrepresentation of facts as to his competence to be in the Nigerian Army and subsequently occupy the position of NYSC DG.

“Arising from the recalcitrance exhibited by Yobe Elders Group in attempting to paint a man who committed fraud as the victim, the Concerned Citizens Forum, which is the group that wrote the earlier petition to Mr. President to expose Brig. Gen MK Fadah for parading forged credentials, evading National Youth Service as well as age falsification, hereby warns the so called elders to immediately stop ruffling feathers or else we will release even more damaging information that would guarantee their paymaster a long residency in jail.

“They should take it that Brigadier General MK Fadah was responsible for his own downfall as he could have lived a controversy-free life as a storekeeper, herder, artisan, farmer, or any other occupation that does not require advanced credential or mandatory national youth service.

“Even after using the false credentials, falsified age, and non-participation in national youth service to secure a job in the Nigerian Army and attaining the position of NYSC DG, he could have at the very least develop the competence needed to thrive in that position. Instead, Fadah’s performance was so dismal in that position that he sent the scheme into decline in a matter of six months.

“We nonetheless have our demands in the interest of justice and fairness. We demand that Gen MK Fadah be made to refund all earnings and allowances he got as the Director General of NYSC, the same having been obtained fraudulently.

“We further demand that Fadah returns all salaries and emoluments he has received from the Nigerian Army since October 2020 having turned 60 years old at the time since he was born October 1960. The Nigerian Army must similarly adjust Fadah’s rank commensurate with his actual qualifications and compute his due cumulative salary on this basis while asking him to refund the deferential he earned with rank acquired with the forged credentials.

“As we insist that there must be consequences for Fadda’s fraud against Nigeria, the Concerned Citizens Forum shall continue to monitor the situation to ensure that he pays for his crime against Nigerians, especially those who comply with the law of the land. The NYSC Scheme is too central to Nigeria’s unity and social cohesion for a fraud to have led it even for six months”.