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A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled 26 February to hear the preliminary objection filed by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), against a suit filed by the former Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji.
Mr Nnaji had filed the suit to block UNN from releasing details of his academic sojourn in the institution to anyone in the wake of a PREMIUM TIMES’ investigation documenting how he forged his degree and NYSC certificates.
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Apart from the UNN (3rd defendant), its Vice-Chancellor, Simon Ortuanya (4th defendant) the minister of education (1st defendant), the National Universities Commission (NUC) (2nd defendants), the university’s registrar (5th defendant), a former UNN Acting Vice-Chancellor, Oguejiofo Ujam, (6th defendant), and the Senate of the University (7th defendants) were listed as defendants in the suit.
Why the new date for objection
Justice Hauwa Yilwa, during the resumed hearing on Tuesday, fixed the date to allow the 3rd to 7th defendants, through their counsel, Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to serve the preliminary objection on the 1st and 2nd defendants, who were not represented in court.
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The 3rd to 7th defendants had jointly filed the preliminary objection.
They had prayed the court to strike out the former minister’s suit for being statute-barred.
They also urged Justice Yilwa to strike out the motion on notice for prerogative writs for being “incompetent and wrongly commenced.”
Uche Nnaji’s prayers
Mr Nnaji had filed an ex-parte motion in support of the suit in which he sought an order granting him leave to issue prerogative writs prohibiting the university and its officials from “tampering with” or continuing to “tamper with” his academic records, among others.
The then-minister also sought the leave to issue a prerogative writ of mandamus compelling the university and its officials to release his academic transcript to him, and asked the minister of education and the NUC to exercise their supervisory powers to compel UNN to do so.
He equally sought an interim injunction restraining UNN and its officials from “tampering” with his academic records pending the determination of the substantive suit, among others.
Preliminary objection
However, in their preliminary objection, the 1st to 7th defendants, prayed the court to strike out the suit for want of jurisdiction.
They also sought an order awarding substantial costs in favour of the 3rd, 4th and 6th defendants.
In a nine-ground of argument, they said the motion ex-parte for leave was not filed within three months of the occurrence of the subject matter.
They argued that this was contrary to Order 34 Rule 4(1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019 and Section 2 (a) of the Public Officers Protection Act 2004, which rendered the entire proceedings incompetent and robbed the court of jurisdiction.
“The substantive motion for prerogative orders was wrongly brought by motion on notice instead of an originating motion as required under Order 34Rule 5 (1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019.
“The application is incompetent, premature, speculative with there being no prior request or denial of release of academic records or any evidence of interference with the applicant’s academic records prior to the commencement of this action,” they said.
They equally argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain “matters concerning student academic records, examinations, results and transcripts.”
They contended that the matter does not arise from the administration or management of any agency within the exclusive jurisdiction as specified in Section 251(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
They further argued that the internal remedy had not been exhausted and that the applicants’ fundamental rights had not been breached.
Besides, they said no reasonable cause of action was disclosed against the 3rd to 7th respondents, particularly the 4th respondent, Mr Ortuanya, a professor, who acted solely in his official capacity as vice-chancellor of UNN, among others.
Judge speaks
When the case was called on Tuesday, Mr Uche, who appeared for the 3rd to 7th defendants, said the matter was for the court to hear their objections.
Although Mr Nnaji’s counsel, Wole Olanipekun, also a SAN, acknowledged the receipt of the preliminary objection, there was no proof of service of such in the court record to show that the 1st and 2nd defendants had been served.
Justice Yilwa then adjourned the matter until 26 February 2026 and ordered that the minister of education and NUC, who are 1st and 2nd defendants, be served with the process.
Background
In October 2023, PREMIUM TIMES began an investigation into Mr Nnaji’s academic records.
The then-minister had submitted a degree and NYSC certificates to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation.
He had claimed that he obtained the degree certificate from UNN where he claimed to have graduated from in 1985.
Apparently disturbed that he was under scrutiny, Mr Nnaji filed the suit which was intended to block both UNN and its vice-chancellor from releasing his academic records.
But before the minister filed the suit, Mr Ortuanya, the UNN vice-chancellor, had responded to PREMIUM TIMES’ Freedom of Information (FOI) letter in which he confirmed that Mr Nnaji forged his UNN degree certificate.
The UNN registrar would, shortly after, corroborate Mr Ortuanya’s position, indicating that although Mr Nnaji was admitted into the university in 1981, he neither graduated nor was issued any certificate.
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Even NYSC authorities, in response to a separate FOI letter from PREMIUM TIMES, had disowned the discharge certificate in possession of the then-minister.
Mr Nnaji resigned from his position as minister three days after this newspaper published the investigation exposing how he forged his degree and NYSC certificates which he submitted to President Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation.
