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Tinubu Faces Mounting Pressure To Sack Minister Nnaji Over Forgery Allegations
Pressure has continued to mount on President Bola Tinubu to break his silence on the forgery case against the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, as senior lawyers, activists, as well as opposition political parties and leaders called for a thorough probe and resignation or removal of the presidential aide.
This followed revelations that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) disowned the academic and service certificates he presented during his Senate screening in 2023.
But the minister on Monday, refuted allegations of certificate forgery against him, alleging that it was politically motivated, and well-crafted by a governor to tarnish his reputation ahead of the 2027 governorship election in Enugu state.
The alleged forgery gained national attention after UNN, in a letter dated October 2, 2025, stated that it did not issue the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree certificate in Biochemistry and Microbiology, which the minister claimed to have obtained in July 1985.
The letter, signed by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simon Ortuanya, explained that while Nnaji was admitted into the university in 1981 to study Biochemistry and Microbiology, he did not complete the programme and therefore could not have been issued a graduation certificate.
“From every available record and information from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we are unable to confirm that Mr. Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji graduated from the University in July 1985, as there are no records of his completion of study,” the university stated.
Reacting to the development, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Seyi Sowemimo, described the allegations as serious and called for an independent investigation.
“I don’t see how the minister would tender a forged certificate. That would be criminal conduct—something that should be investigated. If it is found that the certificate is indeed forged, then this would amount to criminal conduct, and we would demand that he be removed from office,” Sowemimo said.
Similarly, Prof. Konyinsola Ajayi (SAN) advised that the minister should “do the honourable thing and resign” if the allegations are substantiated after due inquiry.
Similarly, in a statement by its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Monday, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) blamed President Bola Tinubu for the continued stay in office of the minister, saying that if the minister is not honourable enough to resign, the Tinubu administration should remove him from office.
“A ministry whose mandate is to drive innovation, research, and the advancement of knowledge is now tainted by the dubious credentials of the man that President Tinubu has found fit to serve,” it added.
Also, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Afam Osigwe (SAN) has said that any public officer accused of certificate forgery owes Nigerians a duty to come clean.
Also, the Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, described forgery as a serious offence which should not be treated with kid gloves.
Osigwe, responding to a question, said that while he may not want to comment on the issue because he was not seized of the facts of the allegation, any public servant accused of forgery should prove his innocence.
“However, where the minister or whoever is alleged does not come out openly to either rebuff or prove that the certificate he is carrying is authentic, the matter should be referred for investigation because the public has the right to know whether the certificate being used by such a person is indeed forged or authentic,” he said.
Also, Obi, the LP presidential candidate, in a post on his X handle, said the country was not firm enough on public office holders, who were found to have forged their certificates.
According to him, whenever he talks about Nigeria being a crime scene, those who are part of the criminality and their hirelings will quickly start their noise-making, attacking and blackmailing him.
He said: “How do you tell young Nigerians to be honest and upright when those they are supposed to emulate are the least to be emulated because they are criminals and dishonest? Certificate forgery is a serious criminal offence in all countries of the world. It is one of the most corrupt practices heavily punished.”
Speaking further on the need for proper verification of certificates, Obi alleged that many public office holders today are parading forged certificates backed by fraudulent affidavits, which they used in 2023, after “scaling through” both INEC, security and Senate screening with forged documents.
“How do you tell young Nigerians to be honest and upright when those they are supposed to emulate are the least to be emulated because they are criminals and dishonest? Certificate forgery is a serious criminal offence in all countries of the world. It is one of the most corrupt practices heavily punished,” he said.
The former Anambra State Governor referenced Indonesia where if there’s forgery of educational qualifications required to participate in elections from local government to the state legislature, governorship, and up to the presidential level, they will be prosecuted.
“But in my country Nigeria, though the laws are same as in other countries, that forgery is punished by immediate disqualification, the INEC makes no effort to scrutinise certificates before the elections, overlooks complaints of forgery and when you challenge them after the elections, court will dismiss the serious criminal issues as ‘pre-election matters’ without giving this criminal act appropriate punishment.
“INEC, even after the elections, does not bother to revisit or investigate these serious offences before the next election. The other concerning issue from all these is how criminals and dishonest people scale through all the scrutiny layers -security, parliament and government apparatus set to handle such.
“Even more disturbing, amounting to double tragedy, is that most of these dishonest people swore an affidavit before a law court attesting to the authenticity of the documents they presented. We are now preparing for the 2027 general elections. INEC has enough time to investigate past complaints about various forms of forgery and false claims.
“Our electoral amendments must include that anyone intending to contest for any public office, whether an incumbent or a new candidate, must submit all academic certificates to the electoral body immediately after party primaries, at least six months before the election.
“These certificates, alongside details of schools attended, what was studied, and years of study, should be made public for verification within 90 days. This process must also apply to appointed officials, ministers, and even aides, because when dishonesty starts from the top, it spreads to every level of governance, just like it’s happening now,” Obi argued.
In his intervention, human rights advocate Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, commented on the broader implications of the case:
“This story might shock the rest of the world, but in Nigeria, it seems par for the course. The Minister of Innovation, Science & Technology appears to have decided that innovation should start with himself—by allegedly forging a university degree and claiming one from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
“In reality, he is a university dropout. Importantly, Nigerian law does not require Ministers to hold a university degree, making this a gratuitous act of deceit rather than a legal necessity.
“He is neither the first nor likely the last in the current administration to present questionable credentials. The government is reportedly full of individuals with forged documents, criminal records, or sometimes both. Ultimately, this administration may be remembered for making it abundantly clear that, in its view, the only standards that seem to matter are criminal ones,” he stated.
However, Nnaji, has refuted allegations of certificate forgery against him as reported by a section of the Nigerian media.
Nnaji, who spoke at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, alleged that it was politically motivated, and well-crafted by the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, to tarnish his reputation ahead of the 2027 governorship election in the state.
Represented by his Special Adviser, Media, Dr. Robert Ngwu, the minister threatened legal action against those he said were spreading what he described as fake news.
Ngwu stated that the minister was admitted into UNN to study Microbiology/Biochemistry in 1981 and graduated in 1985 with Second class Honours (Lower Division) contrary to some media reports that he did not obtain any certificate in 1985.
The media aide flaunted a document dated December 21, 2023 issued from the office of the UNN Registrar, Dr. Celine Ngozi Nnebedum, and signed by IAS Onyeador on behalf of the former.
The document, he stated, was in response to an inquiry by Samuel Ogundipe of the People’s Gazette seeking for the minister’s academic records.
The document read: ”This is to confirm that Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji with registration number 1981/30725 was admitted in 1981 to study Microbiology/ Biochemistry in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
“Mr Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji graduated from the University of Nigeria in July 1985 with Bachelor of Science in Microbiology/ Biochemistry, Second Class (Hons) Lower Division.”
He added that the document was the official position of the university, noting that it remains very much valid.
The ministerial aide added that the document relied upon by the online platform for its “malicious and false narrative” was issued in May 2025, allegedly written by the university claiming that there were no records of the minister’s graduation.
He said: “Starting from May 2025, a purported letter surfaced allegedlywritten by the university suddenly claiming that there were no records of the ministers’ graduation. The question every Nigerian should ask is simple and logical: what changed between December 2023 and October 2025?”
He accused the then acting VC and the incumbent VC of orchestrating the purported new document, alleging that they are card-carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), hired by the governor to do a hatchet job.
“By Academic convention worldwide, the Registrar and not the Vice Chancellor is the custodian of all examination and graduation records. Any attempt by the Vice chancellor to assume that role is an aberration in the university protocol and in his case an obvious political overreach,” he said.
The minister’s spokesman said that when his principal got wind of an attempt to tamper or alter his academic files, he immediately sought legal redress by approaching the Federal High Court In Abuja in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1909/2025, presided by justice HJ Yilwa.
According to him, on September 22, 2025, the court granted a series of protective orders, including an injunction restraining the Vice Chancellor and management of UNN from tampering or continuing to tamper with Nnaji’s academic records.
The second order, he said, was an order of Mandamus compelling the university to release his academic transcripts, while a third order was a directive to the supervising authorities to ensure compliance through their disciplinary power.
“These are not speculative claims, they are certified orders of the Federal High Court of Nigeria and that alone should settle the matter. Unfortunately, instead of adhering strictly to the valid court order, the Vice Chancellor of the UNN, a lawyer by profession, resorted to cyber bullying and politically-motivated media trial against Chief Nnaji,” the media aide alleged.
He stressed: “It is increasingly clear that this entire episode is not about education or integrity, it is about political desperation disguised as academic inquiry. The timing, the sources, the false documents and the paid narratives all point to a coordinated campaign to drag a reputable public servant into the mud of partisan politics. But Nigerians are wiser than that.
“The facts are before the court, the document is in public domain and the truth cannot be buried under political propaganda.”
The minister, he added, cannot be distracted by those who want to weaponise institutions and media platforms for political He said that this was also reflected in the institution’s convocation brochure which remains part of the UNN archives, stressing that any other claim or document to the contrary is false, malicious and politically motivated.
However, there was a seeming inconsistency in the names presented in the document and the university convocation brochure.
In the document presented, the minister’s name was given as Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, while the brochure had Nnaji GG Uchenna, which the media aide dismissed as inconsequential.
When pressed further on the need to make his certificate public to clear any doubt on the controversy, he claimed the minister had made it public by submitting to the Department of State Services(DSS) during the ministerial screening .
In the same vein, hearing in the suit filed by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Nnaji, before a Federal High Court in Abuja, failed to proceed as scheduled, due to the inability of the lawyer to the UNN and its officials to file their responses against the suit.
Trial judge, Justice Yilwa subsequently adjourned the matter until November 10 for hearing.
The minister had dragged the Minister of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), UNN and its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ortuanya, to court, following allegations of certificate forgery levelled against him.
While the Education Minister, NUC, UNN and Prof. Ortuanya are the 1st to 4th respondents, the 5th to 7th respondents are the Registrar, UNN; a former Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oguenjiofor Ujam; and the Senate respectively, in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1909/2025.
Nnaji, in an ex-parte motion, had sought an order granting him leave to issue prerogative writs prohibiting the university and its officials from “tampering with” or continuing to “tamper with” his academic records.
The applicant in addition also sought leave to issue a prerogative writ of mandamus compelling the university and its officials to release his academic transcript to him, and asked the Minister of Education and the NUC to exercise their supervisory powers to compel UNN to do so.
In another relief, the minister also sought an interim injunction restraining UNN and its officials from “tampering” with his academic records pending the determination of the substantive suit, among others.
But in her ruling on September 22, the judge granted three of the reliefs sought by Nnaji but declined to issue any injunctive order against the respondents, before adjourning the matter to October 6, for further hearing.
Meanwhile, when the matter was called on Monday, Nnaji was represented by Sebastine Hon, SAN, while E.M. Asogwa appeared for the 3rd to 7th respondents (UNN and its officers). However, no lawyer appeared for either the Minister of Education or NUC (1st and 2nd respondents). Hon, therefore, told the court that all the parties in the suit had been served.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has demanded that President Bola Tinubu urgently sanitise his cabinet by sacking and suspending ministers entangled in alleged corruption and forgery scandals.
The rights group warned that the President’s silence in the face of mounting allegations and presumed evidence of alleged misconduct portrays him as indifferent to accountability, transparency, and the fight against corruption.
In a statement issued, by Emmanuel Onwubiko National Coordinator, said that by keeping silence, Tinubu is aiding corruption
HURIWA described Tinubu’s refusal to act despite weighty allegations against members of his cabinet as “disrespectful to Nigerians who are the rightful custodians of national sovereignty.” It stressed that allowing allegedly tainted officials to remain in office makes the administration complicit in shielding wrongdoing at the highest levels of government.
It said what a good government does when such allegations come up is to take open, transparent and visible measures to investigate and then act swiftly if the accusations are proven.
Chuks Okocha, Emmanuel Addeh, Alex Enumah, Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole and Wale Igbintade