Hours after the news broke, the nation is still confused over whether Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has actually resigned or not. Five hours after news of Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun’s resignation broke, her office is yet to issue a statement confirming or debunking the story and the presidency has been mum–a situation that has resulted in plenty of confusion offline and online.On July 7, 2018, online newspaper Premium Times reported that Mrs. Adeosun had forged her mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate after she returned to Nigeria from education abroad. The government and the NYSC have often insisted that the allegation was being investigated. Adeosun took a break from appearing in public as the story raged and calls for her resignation grew. No one in the finance ministry is saying a thingPulse has been dialing the phone number of Mr. Oluyinka Akintunde who is Mrs. Adeosun’s spokesperson, without let, since the story broke. Those calls have neither been picked nor returned. Text messages sent to Mr. Akintunde have also not been replied.When our correspondent joined a posse of journalists to the Ministry of Finance building in Abuja on the afternoon of Friday, September 14, staff were carrying on with business as usual and aides of Adeosun who didn’t want to go on the record, dismissed stories of her resignation as “fake news”.On the 7th floor of the Ministry of Finance building where Adeosun’s office is perched, business of the day was going on as usual and on the parking lot below, her car could still be seen straddling the premises.However, Adeosun who was supposed to attend a meeting of the Convergence Council of Ministers and Governors of Central Bank of West African Money Zone, didn’t show up for that meeting. Instead, she was represented by a Permanent Secretary in her office, Dr. Mahmood Isa Dutse.There are reports suggesting that Adeosun had been asked to go by Buhari just weeks after the certificate forgery story broke, and that all that was needed was an official confirmation by way of a statement, but Pulse has been unable to independently verify that version of events.Pulse will continue to monitor this story and update our readers accordingly.
