Human rights activist and 2023 African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has announced plans to lead a protest on Tuesday (today) against the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for allegedly withholding the discharge certificate of a corps member and content creator, Rita Uguamaye, popularly known as Raye.
In March, Uguamaye had posted a video on social media criticising the Federal Government’s policies and its handling of Nigeria’s struggling economy.
She described President Bola Tinubu as a “terrible leader,” decried Lagos’ “poor living conditions,” and dismissed the NYSC scheme as “not beneficial.”
The comments, which went viral, drew mixed reactions from Nigerians. Uguamaye later apologised, saying her remarks about Lagos had been misunderstood.
Last week, the corps member alleged that the NYSC withheld her discharge certificate, accusing officials of claiming she missed her April clearance, a delay she blamed on her local government inspector’s refusal to sign her attendance.
On Sunday, however, NYSC authorities said her service year had been extended by two months for “failing to attend the April 2025 biometric clearance,” adding that she was among 131 corps members penalised.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Monday, Sowore urged Nigerians to join the protest in support of Uguamaye, accusing the NYSC of targeting her for her political views.
He said, “I want to use this opportunity to invite people to another protest tomorrow on behalf of the youth corps lady who was denied her discharge certificate.
“She is the only one who spoke up against the president who denied her certificate. We have a clear nexus between what she said and her punishment.”
Addressing NYSC’s claim that Uguamaye failed to complete her mandatory one-month clearance, Sowore insisted she had evidence proving she attempted to fulfil the requirement but was blocked.
“[For] the people who said she didn’t do one month clearance, she has been able to make a case that she went there to do the clearance, but they refused that,” he added.
