Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has debunked an allegation that he called for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member Ushie Uguamaye to be put to death after the latter ridiculed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on social media.
Ajayi made the comment following his previous remarks that elicited outrage. While writing in a deleted Facebook post, he contended that Uguamaye had disobeyed the NYSC code of conduct and deserved maximum disciplinary action.
“If she is not a corper, she can speak whatever she wishes like everyone does per second.
Citizens can treat the living day out of their President or any public figure. It is normal,” he wrote.
But he continued:
“But a corper defaulted here and broke her oath and code of conduct. That is capital punishment under NYSC.
You cannot take advantage of the country you serve as a corper in whatever form and disguise and the representative of sovereign power, which is the president. She should be sanctioned to the fullest, not warned.
In reaction to criticism, Ajayi made a statement on Monday, affirming that his words had been intentionally misconstrued. He explained that what he referred to as “capital punishment under NYSC” was the ultimate possible disciplinary measure under the scheme, which is expulsion—not a death penalty.
“The mob get their oxygen from misrepresentations and calculated mischief.
I commented on a post where I mistakenly typed that what the lady corper did should be punished with capital punishment under NYSC, meaning the highest punishment under the NYSC regime,” he explained.
“The worst penalty in NYSC is expulsion. There was also a follow-up comment in the same thread where I gave context, stating that my use of ‘death penalty under NYSC’ was figurative. That follow-up comment was not taken.”
Ajayi maintained that it is “common sense that there’s no death penalty anywhere as punishment under NYSC law,” urging the public not to misconstrue his words.
