Alleged Forgery: Spokesperson accuses UNN of playing politics with Minister Nnaji’s certificate

Robert Ngwu, spokesperson for the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, has accused the management of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, of playing politics with the minister’s certificate saga, adding that the university manipulates the minister’s files.

This comes after Nnaji was caught in an alleged certificate forgery scandal, with the UNN management disowning the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree certificate the minister submitted to the Senate during his screening in 2023.

Ngwu, while speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief of Tuesday, alleged that the university management is tampering with the minister’s certificate, adding that the Vice Chancellor of the institution was a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said, “The file of a student has no business in the Vice Chancellor’s office. You have an Acting Vice Chancellor who was a card carrying member of the PDP. Under normal circumstances, he’s not even qualified to be a vice chancellor of the school, but he was made acting. And then you have another vice chancellor who was in government for decades, and you put an academic robe on the politician.”

According to him, the forgery allegation against the minister is politically motivated, as the PDP in Enugu is alleged to be fond of discrediting politicians who attempt to challenge the party’s control of the state.

“The minister is jittery because we know this is political, and we know how illegal politics is. In Enugu, the PDP has found a way to remain in power for the last 26 years by making sure there is no competition during elections. So, what they do is go after whoever they think will challenge them and try to discredit them or find a way for them not to have a political party to run, he said.

Ngwu urged the institution authorities to release the minister’s transcript and stop manipulating his files.