•President accepts his resignation  

•Premium Times: How minister’s own letters countered his graduation claim

•Records showed he failed a virology course — MCB 431AB, made two unsuccessful attempts to re-sit the examination

Deji Elumoye and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday, accepted the resignation of Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Geoffrey Nnaji, following allegations of multiple certificate forgery against him.

Nnaji had been in the eye of the storm, which gathered over alleged inconsistencies with his first degree certificate from the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka, that he tendered for screening by the National Assembly as a ministerial candidate over two years ago.

Tinubu appointed Nnaji in August 2023.

According to a release issued by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, Nnaji resigned “today in a letter thanking the president for allowing him to serve Nigeria”.

However, the minister, in the resignation letter, said he had been the target of blackmail by political opponents.

Tinubu thanked him for his service and wished him well in his future endeavours, the statement said.

Before Nnaji threw in the towel, fresh evidence had emerged confirming that the academic credentials with which he secured his appointment in 2023 could not have been genuine.

A Premium Times investigative report revealed that while Nnaji gained admission into UNN in 1981 to study Microbiology/Biochemistry, he dropped out without completing his studies. Despite this, Nnaji emerged on the political scene in the past years claiming to have graduated from the institution with Second-Class Honours, Lower Division, in July 1985.

But documents seen by Premium Times showed that at the time Nnaji claimed to have graduated from UNN and purportedly proceeded to participate in the mandatory national youth service, he was still exchanging correspondence with the institution on how he could re-sit a failed terminal course examination.

The records showed that 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 November 8, 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.

The letter was sent to him about four months after he claimed to have completed his studies and graduated from the university, the Premium Times report showed.

“I regret to inform you that the result of the 1984/85 September Supplementary examination results show that you have not made the required grade in the 1985 September supplementary examination in the following course — MCB 431 A -Virology,” the registrar’s letter read.

“If you wish to take the June 1986 examination as is provided by the University of Nigeria academic regulations, you are required to notify the registrar through your Head of Department with a proof of payment of examination fee of N4 (four naira),” it stated.

Responding through a January 3, 1986 letter, Nnaji, according to the Premium Times report, formally notified the registrar of his intention to retake the course, stating that he had paid the required N4 fee. Yet, he failed to appear for the rescheduled exam.

In another letter dated May 19, 1986 and addressed to the registrar, Nnaji attributed his absence from the examination to ill health and requested another re-sit opportunity during the September 1986 supplementary examinations. A copy of the letter seen by Premium Times indicated that his medical report was attached to support his claim.

“Due to ill health, I was unable to take the outstanding terminal course MCB 431 AB-virology which took place on the 21st of April 1986,” he wrote at the time. “I, therefore, pray that you grant me, Sir, the opportunity to do so during the supplementary examinations.”

The correspondence punctured Nnaji’s claim that he graduated from UNN in July 1985, the report showed.

More than 10 months after he claimed to have graduated, as of May 1986, he was still scrambling to re-sit an outstanding crucial course examination.

An October 2, 2025 letter from the university’s Vice Chancellor, Simon Ortuanya, in response to Premium Times’ Freedom of Information request, showed that Nnaji did not return to complete the outstanding course.

The investigation raised fundamental inconsistencies in Nnaji’s academic and service records.

For example, the notification of result he tendered claims he graduated in July 1985 with Second Class (Lower Division), while his purported National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate indicates he commenced service in April 1985 — months before he purportedly completed his studies.

Both documents, according to the Premium Times investigation, stood in stark contrast to the correspondence he exchanged with UNN’s registrar between 1985 and 1986, showing he had yet to pass the outstanding terminal virology course crucial to his graduation from the university.

Allegations of certificate forgery had dogged Nnaji since July 2023, when  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 May 29, 2023.

Besides, critics had long insisted that Nnaji did not complete his university education and that both the Bachelor’s degree and NYSC certificates he presented to Tinubu, as well as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Department of State Services (DSS), and Senate, were forged, the Premium Times report showed.

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