The Minister of Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, was noticeably absent on Monday at a press briefing convened by his office to address growing allegations of certificate forgery.
The event, scheduled for 2pm at the Ministry’s conference room in Abuja, had been promoted under the title “MINISTER SPEAKS,” giving the impression that the minister himself would respond directly to the allegations and take questions from the press.
However, after a long delay of over 90 minutes, the briefing eventually began around 3:30 pm, not with the minister but with his spokesperson, Robert Ngwu, accompanied by other ministry officials.
No explanation was offered for the minister’s absence.
The development comes just two days after PREMIUM TIMES published a two-year investigative report accusing Nnaji of forging his academic credentials.
The report alleged that the Bachelor’s degree certificate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate submitted by Nnaji as part of his 2023 ministerial appointment were falsified.
Despite the serious nature of the claims and the expectation that Nnaji would respond directly, his failure to appear has further intensified public scrutiny and raised more questions about the credibility of the documents he submitted to key government institutions, including the Presidency, the Nigerian Senate, the State Security Service (SSS) as well as the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The forgery allegations have trailed Nnaji since July 2023, when President Bola Tinubu included him in the first batch of 28 ministerial nominees, just two months after taking office.
While critics have long claimed that Nnaji did not complete his studies at UNN, the university has now officially denied issuing him a degree certificate.
Furthermore, court documents reveal that Nnaji himself admitted in a lawsuit that the university never issued him the certificate in question.
