A group, Global Gender Safety and Moral Development (GGSMD), has called for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, for allegedly forging the bachelor’s degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate he submitted for his ministerial appointment.
The demand was made by the group’s Executive Director, Godwin Erheriene, during a press briefing on Monday, following a series of investigative reports by PREMIUM TIMES showing that Mr Nnaji forged the credentials he presented to Nigerian authorities.
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Allegations of certificate forgery have trailed Mr Nnaji since July 2023, when President Bola Tinubu nominated him among the first batch of 28 ministerial nominees forwarded to the Senate, two months after assuming office on 29 May 2023.
Those familiar with the matter have consistently alleged that Mr Nnaji neither completed his university education nor legitimately obtained the certificates he submitted to the President, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the State Security Service (SSS), and the Senate.
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On Saturday, PREMIUM TIMES published findings from its two-year investigation, which confirmed that the Minister forged both his University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) degree certificate and his NYSC discharge certificate.
Group’s demand
Addressing the press conference, the Executive Director of GGSMD, Godwin Erheriene, urged the embattled minister to immediately step down and submit himself to security agencies for investigation in order to preserve public trust and uphold President Tinubu’s anti-corruption stance.
“In the light of these developments, and in the interest of upholding the rule of law and public confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s anti-corruption agenda, GGSMD demands that the Honourable Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology tender his immediate resignation. Submit himself to the relevant security agencies for a prompt and transparent investigation into the authenticity of his qualifications; and Cooperate fully with any inquiry or verification process so that the truth is established without any delay instead of rushing to the court to waste the time of the judge and also waste taxpayers’ money trying to defend something you know is fake,” he said.
Threat to protest
The group also threatened to occupy the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technology if the minister fails to resign.
“If these steps are not taken, GGSMD will have no option but to exercise its constitutional rights to peaceful protest at the Federal Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technology to press for accountability,” the group warned.
Mr Erheriene further criticised the State Security Service (SSS) for failing to properly scrutinise the embattled minister’s documents during the screening process.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Certificate Forgery: Minister Uche Nnaji absent from press briefing, aide makes unsubstantiated claims
“From our findings, we also discovered that DSS (SSS) did not do their job very well because if they had done a perfect job in investigating and scrutinising every document before it gets to the National Assembly for National assignments we wouldn’t have someone with a fake B.Sc. degree and fake NYSC certificates being a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The question here is, how did Uche Nnaji document beat all the security checks,” he added.
The executive director urged President Tinubu to handle the matter with transparency, fairness, and urgency, stressing that the fight against corruption must be applied to all public officials.
“If the government is serious about fighting corruption and preserving the integrity of public office, no member of the cabinet should be immune from scrutiny, ” he said.
