The political feud between Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, deepened on Monday following fresh accusations over alleged certificate forgery involving the minister.
The controversy was reignited after a Premium Times investigation alleged that Nnaji submitted forged university and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates during his ministerial screening in 2023. The report claimed that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) disowned the degree certificate Nnaji presented to President Bola Tinubu and the Senate, stating he never graduated from the institution.
But in a swift reaction, Nnaji’s media aide, Robert Ngwu, accused Governor Mbah of orchestrating the entire scandal to discredit the minister for political gain.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Ngwu alleged that “all these sponsored attacks are being coordinated by Governor Peter Mbah,” claiming the governor had made Nnaji “the scapegoat for his political troubles.”
He further alleged that Mbah, who is reportedly seeking a second term, viewed the minister as an obstacle to his rumoured defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ngwu maintained that Nnaji graduated from UNN in 1985 and accused the university of refusing to release his academic transcript despite a court order. He also dismissed discrepancies in the minister’s documents as cultural name variations, saying “Uchenna” and “Uchechukwu” carry the same meaning in Igbo.
However, the Enugu State Government swiftly dismissed the allegations. In a strongly worded statement, the Director of Information and Communication, Chukwuemeka Nebo, said the state had no hand in the scandal and urged the minister to “carry his cross.”
“The Enugu State Government dissociates itself completely from these allegations. The honourable minister must clear his name before Nigerians instead of dragging the government into his personal issues,” Nebo said.
Nebo also faulted Nnaji for avoiding direct engagement with the press despite inviting journalists to Abuja for a briefing. “Why invite the media only to send proxies who can’t answer basic questions if he truly has nothing to hide?” he queried.
The state’s response included a list of pointed questions for Nnaji, challenging him to clarify discrepancies in his degree and NYSC certificates. Among the issues raised were:
Why the NYSC certificate he presented was signed by a director who wasn’t in office in 1986;
Why it bore a serial number format introduced years after his alleged service year;
And why he submitted only his secondary school certificate to INEC when he contested for governor in 2023.
The statement concluded: “These are the clarifications Nigerians earnestly yearn for. Chief Uche Nnaji is urged to clear his name if he is truly innocent, rather than trading blames.”
Meanwhile, court filings obtained from Nnaji’s ongoing suit against the Minister of Education, National Universities Commission (NUC), and UNN revealed that the minister himself had sworn in an affidavit that the university “never issued him any degree certificate.”
At Monday’s hearing before the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nnaji was represented by Sebastian Hon (SAN), while E.M. Asogwa appeared for the university. The Minister of Education and the NUC were not represented.
The case continues amid growing public scrutiny over the integrity of academic qualifications submitted by top government officials.
