Legal battle begins over minister’s certificate

Justice Hauwa Yilwa adjourned hearing on the matter, following the inability of the legal representative for UNN and its officers, to file their replies.

On his part, counsel to UNN and its officials, Asogwa, said though he would not give credibility to the Applicant’s claim, he assured the court that he would advise his clients to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the suit.

He further told the court that his clients were within Justice Hauwa Yilwa adjourned hearing on the matter, following the inability of the legal representative for UNN and its officers, to file their replies. On his part, counsel to UNN and its officials, Asogwa, said though he would not give credibility to the Applicant’s claim, he assured the court that he would advise his clients to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the suit.

He further told the court that his clients were within release his academic transcript without further delay and stop playing further politics with the vital document. He insisted that having bagged a BSc. degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry with second class honours (lower division) in 1985, the university had no right to continue to hold back his academic laurel.

His plea came on a day the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja fixed November 10 to hear the suit the minister filed against the university, and the presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, in 2023 election, Peter Obi, asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and other relevant agencies to verify certificates submitted by candidates running for public office to prevent people with questionable backgrounds from being elected.

The minister, who is accused of forging the certificate he submitted to the government upon his appointment in 2023, defended himself through his spokesman, Dr. Robert Ngwu, at a media briefing in Abuja yesterday.

Nnaji accused the university authorities of trying to dent his image by issuing two conflicting reports regarding his certificate, all in a bid to satisfy a governor who wanted him out of office so as to enhance his political position. At the briefing, he tendered the graduation brochure with his name as Nnaji Uchenna G and picture, along with other graduads in the 1985 set and another letter issued to him by the Registrar, Dr. Mrs. Celine Ngozi Nnebedum, showing he was admitted in 1981 and graduated in 1985.

Asked how the name Nnaji Uchenna G written in his graduation brochure and Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, which the Registrar wrote as the person who graduated in 1985 could be taken to mean the same thing, he said it did not matter as many Igbo names meant the same thing.

The minister said he was shocked to learn that after the letter written by the university in 2023 attesting to his graduation from the university in 1985, the same institution later wrote another letter in May 2025 claiming that there was no record of his graduation from the university, accusing the vice chancellor of being economical with the truth. He said it was when he got wind of the attempts by the institution to tamper with his records for political reason that he instituted a legal challenge against the vice chancellor and the management from carrying out their nefarious plots to destroy his academic records.

Nnaji, however, regretted that despite the court injunction compelling the university to release his academic transcript to him, the vice chancellor has refused to do so but continued to engage in cyberbullying and politically motivated media trial against him.

He said: “It is increasingly clear that this entire episode is not about education or integrity, it is about political desperation, disguised as academic inquiry. The timing, the sources, the false documents and the paid narratives all point to a coordinated campaign to drag a reputable public servant into the mud of partisan politics.

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