President Bola Tinubu has accepted the resignation of the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Geoffrey Nnaji, following allegations against him bordering on certificate forgery.
His resignation was confirmed by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga on Tuesday.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has accepted his resignation with immediate effect, according to a terse statement by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy on Tuesday evening.
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President Tinubu appointed Nnaji in August 2023.
He resigned today in a letter thanking the President for allowing him to serve Nigeria, saying he has been a target of blackmail by political opponents.
Tinubu thanked him for his service and wished him well in future endeavours
Minister Exposed
Nnaji, has been caught in an alleged certificates forgery scheme, with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) disowning the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) degree certificate which the minister submitted to the Senate during his screening in August 2023.
In his 10-age curriculum vitae submitted to the Senate, including his degree and NYSC certificates, the minister had told the lawmakers that he graduated from UNN with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Microbiology and underwent his one-year mandatory NYSC service in Jos, Plateau State.
But the university has washed its hands off issuing Nnaji the degree, insisting that the minister dropped out of the institution without completing his studies, noting that the institution did not and could not have issued him the certificate he has been parading.
The university’s position was contained in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Premium Times, an online newspaper, which had investigated the B.Sc. and NYSC certificates forgery allegation dogging the Enugu State-born minister for several years.
The letter dated October 2, 2025 and signed by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Simon Ortuanya read: “We refer to your letter dated 29 September 2025 in respect of the above subject matter. We can confirm that Mr Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, with Matriculation Number 1981/30725, was admitted by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1981.
“From every available records and information from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we are unable to confirm that Mr Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, the current Minister of Science and Technology, graduated from the University of Nigeria in July 1985, as there are no records of his completion of study in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
“Flowing from above, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka did not and consequently, could not have issued the purported certificate, or at all, in July 1985 to Mr Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, the current Minister of Science and Technology. This conclusion is also in consonance with an earlier letter dated May 13, 2025, ref. No, RUN/SR/R/V, issued by the University to the Public Complaints Commission in respect of the same subject matter (copy attached).”
However, UNN’s December 21, 2023 response is a stark contradiction of its earlier response to a People’s Gazette enquiry on the matter in which the University’s Registrar, Celine Nnebedum, wrote that Nnaji graduated from the institution in July 1985 – a position the university has voided in its FOI reply to the (PCC).
“We wish to inform the Public Complaints Commission that we have searched through the University of Nigeria graduation record for the 1985 session and we could not find Mr. Nnaji Geoffrey Uchechukwu’s name.
“There is no indication that the certificate was issued by the University of Nigeria,” the reply to the Commission by the school read in part.
The university’s position appears to be supported by all available facts. Indeed, other enquiries made from those that were in a position to know showed that he played truancy, and was unable to utilise opportunities accorded him to retake courses, including Virology (MCB 431AB), which he failed repeatedly.
The university, at some point, also advised him in writing to withdraw for reasons of truancy and poor academic performance, it was learnt.
But the Premium Times report stated that for Nnaji who claimed to have graduated in July 1985, in the course of investigation, its reporter sighted a letter he wrote to UNN on May 1, 1986, wherein he begged to be given another opportunity to retake a terminal course in September of that year.
Those familiar with his case said the university declined to grant his request. It also obtained a copy of the Order of Proceedings of the 20th Convocation Ceremony of the university, which contains the names of students who graduated in 1985. Mr Nnaji’s name, it stressed, was missing from the list.
The recent letter by Ortuanya, comes a few months after NYSC also disowned the minister’s discharge certificate marked A231309 and dated 1986.
Investigations by the media house punctured Nnaji’s claims on several grounds.
For example, whereas the degree certificate Nnaji parades is dated July 1986, his NYSC certificate indicates that he served from April 16, 1985, to May 15, 1986. This is not only an unusual 13-month long service as against a one-year national service, but also about three months earlier than his purported graduation from the university in July 1985.
