By Aliyu Kurudu

Finally, yesterday, under unrelenting high-octane pressure and controversy, the embattled, Enugu State-born Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, threw in the towel and resigned his appointment.

A terse statement by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga yesterday evening captured the minister’s formal exit: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has accepted the resignation of Geoffrey Uche Nnaji, the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, following some allegations against him.

“President Tinubu appointed Nnaji in August 2023. He resigned today in a letter thanking the President for allowing him to serve Nigeria. Nnaji said he has been a target of blackmail by political opponents. President Tinubu thanked him for his service and wished him well in future endeavours.”

It was sadly a pretty unscientific script, acted out amateurishly, ending predictably. The trending narratives were weighty but Chief Nnaji, the former science and technology minister attempted to ride the storm and brazen it out by blaming political opponents. But this was not to be. He finally bit the dust.

What transpired in Chief Nnaji’s case is somewhat comparable to Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance under the Muhammadu Buhari presidency who resigned at the height of allegedly forged national youth service corps certificate controversy.

Nigeria’s science minister was embroiled in an alleged certificates forgery scheme, with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) disowning the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) degree certificate which the minister submitted to the Senate and DSS during his screening in August 2023.

In his nifty 10-age curriculum vitae submitted to the Senate, including his degree and NYSC certificates, the minister had told the lawmakers that he graduated from UNN with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Microbiology and underwent his one-year mandatory NYSC service in Jos, Plateau State.

But the nation’s first indigenous university washed its hands off issuing Nnaji the degree, insisting the minister dropped out of the institution without completing his studies, noting that the institution did not and could not have issued him the certificate he has been parading.

The university’s position was contained in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Premium Times, an online newspaper, which had investigated the B.Sc. and NYSC certificates forgery allegation dogging the Enugu State-born minister for several years.

It could be recalled that it was also Premium Times that on July 7, 2018, alleged that Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance under the Muhammadu Buhari presidency had illegally obtained her NYSC exemption certificate to get into public office. Kemi Adeosun was appointed minister in November 2015. Following the untidy ensuing scandal Ms. Adeosun resigned her appointment on September 14, 2018.

In Chief Nnaji’s case, UNN’s letter disowning the Minister of Science and Technology dated October 2, 2025 and signed by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Simon Ortuanya read: “We refer to your letter dated 29 September 2025 in respect of the above subject matter. We can confirm that Mr. Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, with Matriculation Number 1981/30725, was admitted by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1981.

“From every available record and information from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we are unable to confirm that Mr. Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, the current Minister of Science and Technology, graduated from the University of Nigeria in July 1985, as there are no records of his completion of study in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

“Flowing from above, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka did not and consequently, could not have issued the purported certificate, or at all, in July 1985 to Mr. Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, the current Minister of Science and Technology. This conclusion is also in consonance with an earlier letter dated May 13, 2025, ref. No, RUN/SR/R/V, issued by the University to the Public Complaints Commission in respect of the same subject matter (copy attached).”

And worse for the ex-minister, Premium Times recent, rigorous investigations revealed further that the former minister’s own letters countered his graduation claims. The contradictions effectively indicated that Chief Nnaji could not have received his bachelor’s degree from the UNN or got mobilised for the NYSC scheme at the time he claimed.

This fresh evidence which Premium Times dug up finally confirmed that the academic credentials with which the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, secured his appointment in 2023 could not have been genuine.

According to the online newspaper, documents it sighted show that at the time Chief Nnaji claimed to have graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and purportedly proceeded to participate in the mandatory national youth service, he was still exchanging correspondences with the institution on how he could re-sit a failed terminal course examination.

The records show that Chief Nnaji failed a virology course – MCB 431AB – and subsequently made two unsuccessful attempts to re-sit the examination. The university’s registrar, through a letter dated 8 November 1985, informed him that he failed the course in the round of September 1985 supplementary examinations, and advised him on the steps he needed to take to have a re-sit. This letter was sent to him about four months after he claimed to have completed his studies and graduated from the university.

However, the embattled minister attempted a spirited fightback, insisting he duly graduated from UNN and is a proud alumnus of the university. In a press conference in which he was absent, held at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology Headquarters, Abuja, on Monday, October 6, 2025, Dr. Robert Ngwu, spokesperson to the minister stated that Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji is indeed a proud alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

His words: “Let me state clearly and for the record: Chief Uche Nnaji is a proud alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), having graduated in July 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry, with Second Class (Honours) Lower Division.

“That fact is not in doubt. It is documented in the University’s own records, acknowledged in its official correspondence, and reflected in its 1985 Convocation Brochure, which remains part of UNN’s permanent archives.

“We have called this briefing to address the deliberate misinformation recently circulated in some sections of the media regarding the academic credentials of the Honourable Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Geoffrey Uche Nnaji.

“The only authentic letter issued by the University of Nigeria on this matter is the one dated 21 December 2023, duly stamped and signed by Mrs. I.A.S. Onyeador for the Registrar, Dr. (Mrs.) Celine Ngozi Nnebedum.

But all these turned out to be too little too late.  Allegations of certificate forgery have dogged Chief Nnaji since July 2023, when President Bola Tinubu named him among the first batch of 28 ministerial nominees from 25 states forwarded to the Senate as part of the president’s initial cabinet list, two months after taking office on 29 May 2023.

The resignation of Chief Nnaji yesterday raises critical questions about the rigorousness of the vetting process for presidential ministerial picks and other appointees. In this case, the senate, the DSS and the presidency itself stand indicted.

Perhaps for many other Tinubu appointees, this is indeed a nervy period.

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