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Untold Frustrations We Faced Digging Out Nnaji’s Certificate Scandal – Premium Times (Video)

By Gideon Ayeni

Published

1 month ago

October 8, 2025

Gideon Ayeni

A heated exchange has erupted between online investigative platform Premium Times and the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji, over allegations of certificate forgery.

The controversy, which has been brewing for months, took centre stage on Tuesday night during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where both parties defended their positions.

Representing Premium Times, Editor-in-Chief Musikilu Mojeed said the publication launched an investigation into the minister’s academic records after receiving a whistleblower’s tip in 2023.

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According to Mojeed, the whistleblower had alleged inconsistencies in Nnaji’s credentials, particularly his claims of graduating from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in 1985.

“A whistleblower had sent us an email alerting us to possible discrepancies in the minister’s academic claims,” Mojeed explained. “We began digging into it and discovered irregularities with both his NYSC certificate and his UNN degree certificate.”

He said the platform had written to both the NYSC and UNN through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to verify the authenticity of the documents.

“The NYSC replied that it could not authenticate the certificate as there was no record of it,” Mojeed revealed. “Similarly, in three separate correspondences — one from the Vice-Chancellor, another from the Registrar, and one addressed to the Public Complaints Commission — the university stated clearly that it did not issue the certificate.”

However, in a swift response, the minister’s aide, Chukwunonye Okereke, dismissed the allegations as politically motivated, maintaining that Nnaji legitimately earned his degree from UNN.

“He studied Biochemistry/Microbiology. He was enrolled from his first to final year and graduated with his set,” Okereke said, insisting that the university had indeed certified him “in character and learning.”

He further alleged that political interference within the university might be fueling the controversy, claiming that a former acting vice chancellor had ties to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“We have a PDP arm in the University of Nigeria Nsukka,” he claimed. “The immediate past Acting Vice Chancellor was the Returning Officer for PDP in Nkanu East Local Government Area. He was compensated with that position.”

When asked if the scandal surrounding the minister was politically motivated, Okereke replied without hesitation: “Yes.”

Watch the video below;