The legal team of the embattled Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, who is at the centre of a major certificate forgery scandal, fumed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday over PREMIUM TIMES investigative reportage of the matter.
Mr Nnaji’s lead lawyer, Sebastian Hon, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), pointed to this newspaper’s investigation during the court’s first hearing session on the civil suit regarding the minister’s academic records at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
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The PREMIUM TIMES report published on Saturday revealed that Mr Nnaji forged the UNN and national youth service certificates he submitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate for his appointment as a minister in 2023.
The report validated the certificate forgery speculations that have swirled around the minister since he became a public official in 2023.
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In September, the minister instituted a suit at the Federal High Court to seek an array of orders imposing restraints on his academic records at the university.
He sued the Minister of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), UNN, the university’s vice-chancellor, Simon Ortuanya, and other officials.
The first hearing in the suit came up before the judge, Hauwa Yilwa, on Monday, when Mr Hon represented the embattled minister.
The university and its officials, the 3rd to 7th respondents, were represented by E.M. Asogwa, while the 1st and 2nd respondents (the Minister of Education and the NUC) were not represented.
Mr Hon told the court that all the parties had been served.
He then launched into fuming over the PREMIUM TIMES investigation. The senior lawyer told the court that “although the 3rd to 7th respondents were served on 29 September, the 4th respondent wrote an official letter to PREMIUM TIMES, an online newspaper, on 2 October, a few days after being served, claiming that the applicant was not a graduate of the university.”
Mr Hon said the “newspaper subsequently published a damaging statement against the applicant on 4 October, titled, ‘Investigation: The serial certificate forger in President Tinubu’s cabinet’.”
He argued that even though the court had earlier refused some of the applicants’ prayers, the respondents failed to maintain the status quo after being served.
He added that PREMIUM TIMES went ahead and published a damaging report against the applicant, contrary to expectations that once leave is granted, all parties must stay further action. He disclosed that the applicant would file further processes.
However, the lawyer to the university and its officials, Mr Asogwa, told the court that while he would not add credibility to Mr Hon’s claims, his team would properly advise their “clients to maintain status quo pending the substantive hearing.”
Responding to Mr Hon, the judge asked him to raise his complaints at the appropriate time.
The lawyer said he would submit a new filing, and the judge then adjourned the matter until 10 November.
The scandal and PREMIUM TIMES investigation
Critics have long alleged that Mr Nnaji never completed his university education and that the degree and national service discharge certificate he presented to President Tinubu following his ministerial appointment were forged.
A PREMIUM TIMES investigation published on Saturday reported that the certificate purporting that UNN awarded him a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology/Biochemistry with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) in July 1985 was forged.
Validating PREMIUM TIMES’ findings from a two-year investigation, UNN disowned the certificate Mr Nnaji presented for his appointment.
The university’s action came months after authorities at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) similarly told PREMIUM TIMES that the certificate of national service being paraded by Mr Nnaji was strange to it and could not be authenticated.
In response to a PREMIUM TIMES Freedom of Information (FoI) request, Simon Ortuanya, the vice-chancellor of UNN, wrote in a 2 October letter that although Mr Nnaji was admitted to the institution in 1981, he did not complete his studies and was never awarded a degree.
The university’s reply to our enquiry contradicted an earlier response to the People’s Gazette newspaper on the matter. On 21 December 2023, Celine Nnebedum, the university registrar, responded to the newspaper’s enquiry, saying Mr Nnaji graduated from the institution in July 1985.
The official has since recanted, telling the Public Complaints Commission in a 23 May 2025 letter that the university searched its graduation records for the 1985 session but could not find Mr Nnaji’s name on them.
Also, the latest information provided by Mr Ortuanya and Mrs Nnebedum to us and the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) aligns with the findings of our two-year investigation on the matter.
Striking confession
Strikingly, the minister admitted in his court filing that UNN never issued him a degree certificate.
In paragraphs 12 and 13 of his 34-paragraph verifying affidavit supporting the motion, he accused UNN officials of refusing to issue him a certificate and, in the process, confirmed that he “never collected one.”
In the suit, Mr Nnaji had sought, through a motion ex parte, an order granting him leave to issue prerogative writs, prohibiting UNN and its officials from tampering with or continuing to tamper with his academic records.
He also sought 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.
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Additionally, Mr Nnaji requested an interim injunction restraining UNN and its officials from tampering with his academic records pending the determination of the substantive suit.
In her ruling on 22 September, Judge Yilwa granted three of his prayers but declined to issue any injunctive order against the defendants. The case was then adjourned to 6 October (Monday) for further hearing.
