₦airaland Forum

How The People’s Gazette broke the story of Uche Nnaji certificate forgery June 2024

In the high-stakes world of Nigerian politics, where ministerial appointments often sail through Senate confirmations with little scrutiny, a single investigative report from The People’s Gazette in June 2024 unraveled a web of deception that ultimately forced the resignation of Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, President Bola Tinubu’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology.

The story, built on two years of dogged reporting, revealed forged academic and national service certificates submitted by Nnaji during his 2023 screening, a scandal that exposed systemic lapses in vetting processes and ignited calls for accountability across government institutions.

The Gazette’s bombshell, titled “EXCLUSIVE: How SSS ignored NYSC alert, misled Nigerian Senate to confirm Uche Nnaji as Tinubu’s tech minister with forged national service certificate,” dropped on June 12, 2024. It marked the culmination of an exhaustive probe that began shortly after Nnaji’s nomination in August 2023, blending document analysis, official correspondences, and insider sources to dismantle the minister’s credentials brick by brick.

Nnaji, a 62-year-old Enugu-born entrepreneur and CEO of the software firm Parthian Partners, was thrust into the spotlight as part of Tinubu’s sweeping cabinet reshuffle following his May 2023 inauguration. Touted as a tech visionary with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology/Biochemistry from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and a completed National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) stint, Nnaji breezed through Senate confirmation hearings on August 27, 2023. He dazzled lawmakers with promises of digital innovation, securing a nod for the newly carved Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology.

But cracks appeared early for Gazette reporters, who caught wind of discrepancies in Nnaji’s paperwork through anonymous tips from security circles. “We started with a routine check on his CV,” recalled lead investigator in a follow-up Gazette piece. “What we found wasn’t just an error, it was a pattern of fabrication.” By late 2023, the team had obtained copies of Nnaji’s submitted certificates: a BSc purportedly issued by UNN in 1985 and an NYSC discharge certificate dated 1987, claiming service as a computer analyst.

The probe intensified in early 2024 when the Gazette cross-referenced Nnaji’s documents against official records. A pivotal breakthrough came from the NYSC Directorate, which flagged the minister’s certificate as fraudulent in a confidential alert to the State Security Service (SSS) as early as October 2023 months before his confirmation. Sources within the NYSC told the Gazette that Nnaji’s service timeline was impossible: the discharge certificate listed completion in 1987, but UNN enrollment records showed he hadn’t graduated until 1985, violating mandatory post-graduation service rules.


Undeterred, the SSS allegedly downplayed the red flag, briefing Senate screeners that Nnaji’s background was “clear.” The Gazette’s reporting laid bare this chain of complicity, quoting internal memos obtained under freedom-of-information requests. “The SSS had the alert but chose to bury it,” one document excerpt read, as revealed in the June exposé.


Parallel inquiries into the UNN degree yielded even damlier evidence. In a May 2024 letter—exclusive to the Gazette, UNN’s registrar confirmed Nnaji was admitted in 1981 but withdrew in 1984 after failing multiple courses due to chronic absenteeism. “No degree was awarded to Mr. Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji,” the letter stated bluntly. Nnaji’s claim of a 1985 graduation? A mirage, propped up by a forged certificate bearing UNN’s seal, which forensic experts later deemed “crudely altered” using basic editing software.

Nnaji’s initial response was defiance. In a July 2024 press briefing, he dismissed the report as “politically motivated sabotage” by rivals in Enugu State politics, particularly Gov. Peter Mbah, whom he accused of envy over his “self-made success.” “I served NYSC honorably; these are relics of a vindictive past,” Nnaji thundered, vowing legal action against the Gazette.

But momentum shifted. By August 2024, civil society groups filed suits in the Federal High Court in Abuja, citing the Gazette’s documents as primary evidence. In a dramatic September 2025 ruling, Justice Hausa Yilwa dismissed Nnaji’s injunction to block UNN from releasing full records, calling his submissions “riddled with inconsistencies.” The court ordered further probes, amplifying the scandal.

On October 6, 2025, over a year after the exposé, Nnaji tendered his resignation, citing “personal reasons” in a terse statement.

https://x.com/GazetteNGR/status/1975660127291088934

This guy just messed himself up with such topmost Ministerial Journey

And.now.he gone.

Why was the man so vain? Must you be minister by force? With all the issues.

Now he has been caught.

Modified

What's even painful about the case...
1.The man had a succesful business. He had made it. He did not need to be a minister really
2. Shows that this APC government is ready to turn a blind eye to deficiencies in qualifications.

He's resigned . We should be talking about the insecurity ravaging the country now and not this at this time.

Na this people spoil igbo-man quota! Now I won't blame BAT if he finds another region for the job!

Let the right man man the job!

On a more serious note:

The Nigerian secret service actually doesn’t exist. Any event of worthy intelligence needs is safer to pass through the police force than the DSS or SSS. They are one of the most ineffective agencies of Nigeria and can only be good enough for tracking down disagreeing voices.

This just shows that INEC and the Law makers who cleared that guy are all useless entities

AntiChristian:
Na this people spoil igbo-man quota! Now I won't blame BAT if he finds another region for the job!

Let the right man man the job!

Enugu governor is already in APC and he need to take over the party structure and nominate the new minister.

Soldier go soldier come. They don sakirifice this one for am.

"Undeterred, the SSS allegedly downplayed the red flag, briefing Senate screeners that Nnaji’s background was “clear.” The Gazette’s reporting laid bare this chain of complicity, quoting internal memos obtained under freedom-of-information requests. “The SSS had the alert but chose to bury it,”
Why always the SSS? They'll claim they're on top of every investigation and probes, while in actual sense, they're deep down below, doing nothing or worst case scenario, being accomplices. A very complicit organisation that should be disbanded.

Yoruba people been talk sey na fake news


Afenifere people been talk sey na fake news

Every bad thing na them, them still dey forge certificate join 😂

If you can attend a school, what stopped you from getting an authentic certificate from the school ?

Either that UNN frustrated him so much that he refused to go back and meet up with the requirements needed for him to be issued a certificate… He felt he never needed their certificate.

Look how that brought his political career to a pause

AntiChristian:
Na this people spoil igbo-man quota! Now I won't blame BAT if he finds another region for the job!

Let the right man man the job!

Is that how we move the country forward bro, by promoting that they are no consequences for committing an offense? In the same way, today's yahoo boys/fraudsters can open a legitimate business tomorrow and you'll say that the law should leave them alone because the fraud happened in the past.
There are consequences for every action, the more we push and enforce this doctrine, the better for us and the country as a whole.

Scumberger:
Every bad thing na them, them still dey forge certificate join 😂

But your president is a mentor worthy of emulation, at least forging a certificate is not punishable by Nigerian law as long as you’re a card carrying member of the broom party

He should thereafter be sued for certificate forgery, misrepresentation, and compelled to refund, with damages, all monies he received by virtue of his illegal and unlawful period in ministerial office.

I am Yoruba, and I have already begun to see ethnically biased comments.

Let me tell you, ethnic bigots , this is not about the Igbos Hausas or others. This is an act that collectively threatens our progress as a nation.

With the magnitude of audacity displayed by this man, it simply shows one thing: there are many more like him in the system , not only in the political environment but also in public and private institutions.

These are systemic, yet critical and dangerous foundational problems drawing our dear country backward.

You can imagine someone with a poor educational background and zero understanding of advanced strategic governance managing such a complex official position. What will he and can he deliver ?

Government leadership is not something that just anyone without advanced education can handle.

I realized this recently when I took personal time to study several governance reports and guidelines of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission within Nigeria’s electricity industry . a niche under Energy Law.

I read the BEDC PIP and was amazed by how the Disco ingeniously created a solution to tackle poor energy consumption and low returns when comparing the cost of metering which clearly was hitting the BEDCs ATC&C losses really before 2019.

How can a person with low educational background read to understand those stuff? Let alone being able to identify models that can adopt to solve problems in his jurisdiction.

The civil organization should further get an order of the court to investigate all public officials in Nigeria to confirm their competence and educational qualifications and integrity.

We don’t need mediocres taking charge of our schools, clinics , public and private institutions- they are part of the major cankerworms destroying our nation.

To me, the issue is not Nnaji or even Senate that screened him. Those are politicians, so thier personal interests will always take precedence.

The real issue should be the DSS that actually cleared him. This is an organisation that should be strictly apolitical. if they had at least flagged it, but that NASS chose to ignore, it would be different.

This reveals a very troubling insight into thier operations when dealing with actual security threats. Is this how they 'ignore' certain crucial intelligence reports??

ChiefOloye:
"Undeterred, the SSS allegedly downplayed the red flag, briefing Senate screeners that Nnaji’s background was “clear.” The Gazette’s reporting laid bare this chain of complicity, quoting internal memos obtained under freedom-of-information requests. “The SSS had the alert but chose to bury it,”
Why always the SSS? They'll claim they on top of every investigation and probes, while in actual sense, they deep down below, doing nothing. A very complicit organisation that should be disbanded.

And they're always hailed by Nigerians as conducting themselves better than police and military, yet see how they sweep crimes under the mat like police officers... shame

alezzy13:
To me, the issue is not Nnaji or even Senate that screened him. Those are politicians, so thier personal interests will always take precedence.

The real issue should be the DSS that actually cleared him. This is an organisation that should be strictly apolitical. if they had at least flagged it, but that NASS chose to ignore, it would be different.

This reveals a very troubling insight into thier operations when dealing with actual security threats. Is this how they 'ignore' certain crucial intelligence reports??

Exactly—this must result in a total restructuring of all intelligence agencies, as only God knows the extent of their complicity in the country’s insecurity.

How many people are there in this country with forged certificates occupying positions where those that got certificate need to occupy?

If this can happen in such a position of influence imagine what's obtainable in ministries and parastatals. Just imagine.

It will surprise you that made in business center certificates might almost equate the number of university issued certificates.

There was indeed a country!

G0odharddick:
This just shows that INEC and the Law makers who cleared that guy are all useless entities

Stop allowing yourself to be controlled by your emotions and hate for certain institutions. INEC and the Law makers relied on the information supplied by the security organisations to clear him. You lots hate INEC, the judiciary and the Law makers just because Peter Obi lost the elections. Now you try to blame everything on those institutions every time

If you to become a politician, what is so hard in running back to school to get a legit certificate even you.are 65 years? There are so many easy courses and even online these days na. Why do people prefer forgery?

How he used forged certificates to became a tech visionary and successful businessman in the digital world still baffles me. Not until a nod was given for his appointment as minister in the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology that investigation on his purported qualifications started. If he had not been over-ambitious he will not be scrutinized and will be seen as legit.
And those with accredited degrees, professional academic qualifications and advanced credible certifications were working under him and are all saying Yes Sir to him.

Like I said before, Tinubu will hardly work with you if you are squeaky clean. He has dirt on virtually all his appointees. It is how he gets them to do his bidding. Sowore thinks he's on to something with the Florida mansions exposé on Wike but Tinubu is only seeing leverage for the time that Wike will step out of line.

Certificate forgery, miracle centre, cutting corners to achieve success, etc are very common in that part of the country, but unfortunately, Mr. President has to fulfil a difficult requirement of respecting the quota system

stuffs2002:
Stop allowing yourself to be controlled by your emotions and hate for certain institutions. INEC and the Law makers relied on the information supplied by the security organisations to clear him. You lots hate INEC, the judiciary and the Law makers just because Peter Obi lost the elections. Now you try to blame everything on those institutions every time

This is to tell you too that security organisation is completely useless and should be scrapped. The same security organisation that cleared tinubu? Even with his Chicago fraud and certificate saga?

It'll take Nigeria at 350years to catch up with the rest of the world 🌎

Scumberger:
Every bad thing na them, them still dey forge certificate join 😂

Mugu! Kemi Adeosun, a former Minister of Finance in Buhari regime did similar forgery..

His time has come to an end his political opponents won

Like baba Chicago, like brother Nnaji.
Second base jare. 40 character are you there?

AntiChristian:
Na this people spoil igbo-man quota! Now I won't blame BAT if he finds another region for the job!

Let the right man man the job!

"Undeterred, the SSS allegedly downplayed the red flag, briefing Senate screeners that Nnaji’s background was “clear.” The Gazette’s reporting laid bare this chain of complicity, quoting internal memos obtained under freedom-of-information requests. “The SSS had the alert but chose to bury it,”

But tinubu through the DSS was hell bent and determined to have a certificate forger as his minister

AMINDA:
Like I said before, Tinubu will hardly work with you if you are squeaky clean. He has dirt on virtually all his appointees. It is how he gets them to do his bidding. Sowore thinks he's on to something with the Florida mansions exposé on Wike but Tinubu is only seeing leverage.

Very wrong.

A dirty man will only attract dirty people.

A man of questionable character attracts his likes.

Tinubu cannot be comfortable around people who are not like him

Just like father like son, like President like Minister.....Legal action must be instituted against this Barawo! He should be languishing in prison now for deceiving over 200 million Nigerians. A certificate forger is worse than an armed robber, yahoo ritualist, cocaine pusher all combined..As for the useless entity called DSS, that efulefu agency should be scrapped & the entire officers all dismissed. New appointments should be put in place. There are lots of patriotic Nigerians over qualified for intelligence gathering and internal security job!!!