By Aliyu Kurudu
Finally, yesterday, underneath unrelenting high-octane stress 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 assertion by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga yesterday night 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 towards 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 fairly unscientific script, acted out amateurishly, ending predictably. The trending narratives had been weighty however Chief Nnaji, the former science and know-how minister tried to trip the storm and brazen it out by blaming political opponents. But this was to not be. He lastly bit the mud.
What transpired in Chief Nnaji’s case is considerably corresponding to Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance underneath the Muhammadu Buhari presidency who resigned at the top of allegedly cast nationwide youth service corps certificates 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) diploma certificates which the minister submitted to the Senate and DSS throughout his screening in August 2023.
In his nifty 10-age curriculum vitae submitted to the Senate, together with his diploma and NYSC certificates, the minister had instructed the lawmakers that he graduated from UNN with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Microbiology and underwent his one-year obligatory NYSC service in Jos, Plateau State.
But the nation’s first indigenous college washed its arms off issuing Nnaji the diploma, insisting the minister dropped out of the establishment with out finishing his research, noting that the establishment didn’t and couldn’t have issued him the certificates he has been parading.
The college’s place was contained in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Premium Times, a web based newspaper, which had investigated the B.Sc. and NYSC certificates forgery allegation dogging the Enugu State-born minister for a number of years.
It might be recalled that it was additionally Premium Times that on July 7, 2018, alleged that Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance underneath the Muhammadu Buhari presidency had illegally obtained her NYSC exemption certificates to get into public workplace. 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 college, Prof. Simon Ortuanya learn: “We check with your letter dated 29 September 2025 in respect of the above subject material. We can verify that Mr. Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, with Matriculation Number 1981/30725, was admitted by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1981.
“From each accessible document and knowledge from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we’re unable to substantiate that Mr. Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, the present Minister of Science and Technology, graduated from the University of Nigeria in July 1985, as there are not any information of his completion of research 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 latest, rigorous investigations revealed additional that the former minister’s personal letters countered his commencement claims. The contradictions successfully indicated that Chief Nnaji couldn’t have acquired his bachelor’s diploma from the UNN or bought mobilised for the NYSC scheme at the time he claimed.
This recent proof which Premium Times dug up lastly confirmed that the tutorial credentials with which the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, secured his appointment in 2023 couldn’t have been real.
According to the on-line newspaper, paperwork it sighted present that at the time Chief Nnaji claimed to have graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and purportedly proceeded to take part in the obligatory nationwide youth service, he was nonetheless exchanging correspondences with the establishment on how he might re-sit a failed terminal course examination.
The information present that Chief Nnaji failed a virology course – MCB 431AB – and subsequently made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to re-sit the examination. The college’s registrar, by means of a letter dated 8 November 1985, knowledgeable him that he failed the course in the spherical of September 1985 supplementary examinations, and suggested him on the steps he wanted to take to have a re-sit. This letter was despatched to him about 4 months after he claimed to have accomplished his research and graduated from the college.
However, the embattled minister tried a spirited fightback, insisting he duly graduated from UNN and is a proud alumnus of the college. In a press convention through 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 acknowledged that Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji is certainly a proud alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
His phrases: “Let me state clearly and for the document: Chief Uche Nnaji is a proud alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), having graduated in July 1985 with a Bachelor of Science diploma in Microbiology/Biochemistry, with Second Class (Honours) Lower Division.
“That truth isn’t unsure. It is documented in the University’s personal information, acknowledged in its official correspondence, and mirrored in its 1985 Convocation Brochure, which stays a part of UNN’s everlasting archives.
“We have referred to as this briefing to deal with the deliberate misinformation not too long ago circulated in some sections of the media relating to the tutorial credentials of the Honourable Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Geoffrey Uche Nnaji.
“The solely genuine 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 certificates forgery have dogged Chief Nnaji since July 2023, when President Bola Tinubu named him amongst the first batch of 28 ministerial nominees from 25 states forwarded to the Senate as a part of the president’s preliminary cupboard record, two months after taking workplace on 29 May 2023.
The resignation of Chief Nnaji yesterday raises essential questions on the rigorousness of the vetting course of for presidential ministerial picks and different appointees. In this case, the senate, the DSS and the presidency itself stand indicted.
Perhaps for a lot of different Tinubu appointees, that is certainly a nervy interval.