The controversy surrounding the credentials of Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, took a dramatic turn as his media aide, Robert Ngwu, accused Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, of masterminding a political smear campaign against his principal.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, Ngwu dismissed reports alleging that the minister forged his university and National Youth Service Corps certificates, describing the claims as a calculated attempt to tarnish his image. He alleged that Governor Mbah was behind the attacks, claiming the campaign was politically motivated.
According to him, the governor had turned Nnaji into a scapegoat for his political troubles, saying, “Governor Peter Mbah has given a new name to all his problems — Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji.” Ngwu alleged that Mbah, who is reportedly nursing plans to defect to the All Progressives Congress, views Nnaji as an obstacle to his ambition.
He said the minister applied for the transcript to clear his name amid allegations that he forged his university and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates.
According to Ngwu, the university’s refusal to release the record has deepened suspicion that certain individuals are deliberately frustrating efforts to establish the truth.
“He asked the school to release his transcript. He applied for his transcript so that it becomes clear to everyone because it is the ultimate,” Ngwu stated. “Even with a court order, they have not seen reasons to release his transcript.”
Ngwu further alleged that the minister’s student file was being held in the office of the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Ortuanya.
“We have credible information that the minister’s file is being kept under lock and key in the vice-chancellor’s office. Why should the file of a serving minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria be sitting in someone’s office?” he questioned.
Reacting to reports of a name variation between “Nnaji Uchenna” and “Uche Geoffrey Nnaji,” the aide dismissed the difference as a cultural nuance rather than a case of forgery.
“There is no discrepancy in his name,” Ngwu explained. “In the Igbo language, ‘Uchenna’ and ‘Uchechukwu’ both mean the same thing — the will or mind of God — and are often used interchangeably. The surname remains the same. It’s a cultural naming difference, not fraud.”
Ngwu maintained that the minister legitimately graduated from the University of Nigeria in 1985 and said the institution had earlier confirmed his graduation in a letter issued in December 2023.
The aide accused political interests of fueling the controversy to tarnish Nnaji’s reputation and divert attention from the minister’s performance in office.
However, the situation took a new turn after Premium Times published an investigative report alleging that Nnaji submitted forged academic and NYSC certificates to President Bola Tinubu and the Senate during his ministerial nomination process in 2023.
The report claimed that the University of Nigeria disowned the degree certificate submitted by the minister, stating that although he was admitted in 1981, he did not complete his studies and was never awarded a degree.
UNN’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Ortuanya, confirmed the claim in a response to a Freedom of Information request dated October 2, in which he stated that Nnaji was not a graduate of the institution.
The university’s position contradicts a December 2023 letter from its registrar, Celine Nnebedum, which confirmed that Nnaji had graduated in 1985.
The conflicting accounts between UNN officials and the pending court order have left the controversy unresolved, while calls continue to mount for the university to release the minister’s full academic records.
Governor Mbah, through the Enugu State Ministry of Information, swiftly denied the accusation and told the minister to “carry your cross.” The government described the allegation as baseless and politically mischievous.
The director of information in the state, Chukwuemeka Nebo, said the government had no hand in Nnaji’s current travails and advised him to personally clear his name rather than dragging the state into his private issues.
The growing feud between the minister and the governor has added a political twist to the already heated controversy over the authenticity of Nnaji’s academic credentials.
