Stanley Uzoaru,Owerri

A Civil Society Organization, African Initiative Against Corruption and Examination Malpractice (AFICEM) on Wednesday staged a protest at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) state secretariat, demanding an immediate review of nominees from Imo for the NYSC presidential merit award list slated for Friday.

The group, who threatened showdown with NYSC, faulted the list from Imo and accused the commission of bias.

But the CSO argued that the duo has no meaningful CDS projects that could be attributed to their name, while also saying that the commission omitted the names of two who emerged overall best in 2015 and 2016.

But addressing top officials of NYSC during the protest, Dr. Francis Abiaye National Coordinator of the AFICEM faulted the nomination and challenged NYSC to show the CDS projects executed by the duo.

He argued that Mr. Mathew Ajibola who emerged the overall best corps member of Batch A in 2015 after constructing eight rooms ultra modern tourism toilet and biogas digester facility at the Imo state zoological garden should have merited the list.

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He said the overall best corps member in Batch A 2016 Mr. Ademola Sunday who constructed a modern fish pond and carried out major rehabilitation work during his service year should have also made the list.

“The list of proposed Community Development Project awardees whose selection process is expected to be purely on merit has been over spiced with bias and usual corruption syndrome.

He continued “the integrity of the list has left many questions for the nominating committee to answer and we are here to demand the projects executed by the two nominees from Imo and also call for an urgent review of the list”, Ademola said.

He threatened that the group will stage a nationwide protest against the perceived injustice if the list is not revisited.

Mr. Ugochukwu Orunta NYSC state Public Relations Officer PRO thanked the group for not being violent during the protest and assured them that the message will immediately be transmitted to the national headquarters for action.