EXCLUSIVE: NYSC Writes ICPC, Confirms Senior FCTA Staff Member Anita Odom’s Certificate Is Fake

Forty-four-year-old Mrs Odom, born Anita Anurika Obasi, is being probed by the ICPC for alleged forgery of academic and NYSC certificates.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has written to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), informing the commission that the NYSC certificate being paraded by a senior staff member of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Anita Anurika Odom, was forged and not issued by the scheme.

Forty-four-year-old Mrs Odom, born Anita Anurika Obasi, is being probed by the ICPC for alleged forgery of academic and NYSC certificates.

SaharaReporters had reported how she evaded arrest from operatives of the ICPC in Owerri, Imo State last month, after failing to honour several invitations by the anti-graft agency.

Meanwhile, documents exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters on Sunday, revealed that the NYSC has officially written to the ICPC denying issuance of a certificate being paraded by Mrs Odom.

In a letter titled “Investigation Activities Request For Confirmation,” dated September 18, 2023, the ICPC charged the NYSC to confirm the authenticity of a document with Certificate Number A001143537 belonging to Mrs Odom, and was purportedly issued by the NYSC.

“The Commission is investigating a case of alleged violation of the provisions of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000,” the ICPC’s request letter read.

“In view of the above and pursuant to Section 28 of the cited Act, you are kindly requested to confirm the authenticity or otherwise of the attached Certificate of National Service in respect of Obasi Anurika Anita.”

However, in its response dated March 18, 2024, the NYSC informed the ICPC that the document with Certificate Number A001143537 belonging to Mrs Odom, was not issued by the scheme.

The letter reads, “Our investigations reveal the following; No record of Mobilization for National Service nor deployment to Imo State in 2008;

“Call-up number does not exist;

“Certificate no. A001143537 is not in the series of certificate numbers for Certificates of National Service produced for Imo in 2008;

“In view of the foregoing, the Certificate of National Service belonging to Obasi Anurika Anita with Certificate Number: A001143537 forwarded for verification was not issued by the NYSC.”

Mrs Odom, a Level 13 civil servant with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), a department responsible for land records in the FCT, is being prosecuted by the ICPC for allegedly forging certificates of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) NYSC to secure employment at the AGIS.

Certified true copies of the 44-year-old’s employment records showed that she was employed by the FCTA on August 17, 2009, as an Administrative Officer II, and had since become an Assistant Chief Administrative Officer.

Mrs Odom is an in-law of Chuka Odom, a former Minister of State for the FCT, through whose influence she was employed into AGIS in 2009 despite her questionable educational qualifications.

Born Anita Anurika Obasi, the woman who hails from Ebonyi State got married to Benjamin Ndubuisi Odom, brother of Chuka Odom, the former FCT Minister of State in November 2009 and immediately changed her surname from Obasi to Odom to reflect her marital status.

In December 2025, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in case number CR/717/2025, arraigned Mrs. Odom before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on four counts of fraud, involving the forgery of UNIPORT and NYSC certificates, which she allegedly used to secure employment.

The offences levelled against her by the ICPC are punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Act 2000.

However, the anti-graft agency has been unable to arraign Mrs Odom in court due to alleged interference by powerful individuals within the commission who are connected to her.

“Every effort made by the investigating officer to arraign her in court has been blocked by some senior officials in the commission,” an impeccable source privy to the matter told SaharaReporters on Sunday. “She has also refused to present herself to the commission for arraignment.”

When contacted, the spokesperson for the ICPC, Okor Odey, said he was unable to get the latest details regarding her probe.

“The operations department said they would get back to me concerning the latest development on her case, but they haven’t (done that) till now,” Mr Odey said.