Despite a certificates forgery scandal on his neck, a former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, has emerged because the 2027 Enugu State’s governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
His candidacy, nonetheless, is of the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Mr Nnaji polled 7,424 votes to defeat one other aspirant, Samson Nnamani, who scored 600 votes throughout the PDP governorship main election held in Enugu on Monday.
The Chairperson of Enugu’s PDP governorship election committee, Austin Nwachukwu, performed the train.
Recall {that a} two-year painstaking investigation printed by PREMIUM TIMES in October 2025 uncovered how the then-minister solid his diploma and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate throughout his ministerial affirmation.
He had resigned from the place as minister three days after this newspaper printed the investigation.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the previous minister quietly moved to the PDP from the APC, beneath which he unsuccessfully contested the 2023 governorship election in Enugu State.
Mr Nnaji is pushing to be governor of Enugu in 2027 regardless of being beneath investigation for alleged certificates forgery. He is being investigated by the
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported in February that the ICPC started an investigation into Mr Nnaji’s forgery scandal.
Insiders had advised this newspaper that the previous minister may very well be prosecuted if the investigation exhibits that he really solid his credentials.
Meanwhile, in March, this newspaper additionally exclusively reported that an investigative panel arrange by Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, discovered that Mr Nnaji certainly solid his diploma and NYSC certificates.
Earlier this month, a civil society organisation, Defence for Democracy, criticised Mr Wike-backed PDP faction for screening and clearing Mr Nnaji for the occasion’s governorship primaries in Enugu State.
Acceptance speech
In his acceptance speech after the PDP main, Mr Nnaji promised that if elected governor in 2027, his administration would reduce what he termed “sufferings” of Enugu residents by guaranteeing that they don’t seem to be overburdened beneath the guise of taxes.
“I give this victory to the glory of God and our Enugu folks, who’ve been oppressed within the final three years and being overburdened with extreme, obnoxious taxes.
“Landlords are paying by means of their nostril, hoteliers are crying, industrial motorcyclists are out of existence, and even folks hawking water pay tax.
“These are the people that we should be giving money to. The government should make provision to pay the less privileged. And that is the fulcrum of this struggle,” he claimed.
“The struggle to recover Enugu State, the struggle to rebuild Enugu State and the struggle to industrialise Enugu State, so that we will arrest youth restiveness. We will build industries to give our people jobs.”
One-term promise
Mr Nnaji restated his earlier promise to serve just one time period of 4 years if elected governor of Enugu in 2027, assuring that he might enhance the residing circumstances of Enugu residents inside that point.
In Nigeria, elected presidents and governors are constitutionally entitled to a four-year tenure and are additionally certified to hunt reelection for a second and closing time period.
Background
In October 2023, PREMIUM TIMES started investigating Mr Nnaji’s tutorial data.
The then-minister had submitted a level and NYSC certificates to President Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate throughout his ministerial affirmation in 2023.
He claimed he obtained a level certificates from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), the place he purportedly graduated in 1985.
Apparently disturbed by the scrutiny, Mr Nnaji filed a swimsuit on the Federal High Court in Abuja to dam each UNN and its vice-chancellor, Simon Ortuanya, a professor, from releasing his tutorial data.
Apart from the UNN and its vice-chancellor, the minister of schooling, the National Universities Commission, the college’s registrar, a former UNN Acting Vice-Chancellor, Oguejiofor Ujam, and the Senate of the college have been listed as defendants within the swimsuit.
However, the politician, by means of his authorized staff, just lately utilized for an out-of-court settlement.
Before the then-minister might acquire an injunction from the court docket, Mr Ortuanya had responded to PREMIUM TIMES’ Freedom of Information (FOI) letter, confirming that Mr Nnaji had solid his UNN diploma certificates.
The UNN registrar would shortly thereafter corroborate Mr Ortuanya’s place, stating that though Mr Nnaji was admitted to the college in 1981, he neither graduated nor obtained any certificates.
NYSC authorities, in response to a separate FOI letter from PREMIUM TIMES, had disowned the discharge certificates in possession of the then-minister.
READ ALSO: 2027: Despite forgery scandal, Wike’s PDP faction clears ex-Minister Uche Nnaji
Mr Nnaji resigned from his place as minister three days after this newspaper printed the investigation exposing how he solid his diploma and NYSC certificates.
Many Nigerians had referred to as for Mr Nnaji’s prosecution, sustaining that his resignation was insufficient given his violations of assorted Nigerian legal guidelines, together with the Criminal Code Act.
Three months in the past, a authorized practitioner, Liborous Oshoma, criticised the Nigerian authorities for failing to prosecute Mr Nnaji over the certificates forgery scandal, sustaining that folks like the previous minister “should be prosecuted and banned from holding public office to serve as a deterrent to others.”