National Outrage Over Nnaji As Atiku, Others Demand Sweeping Probe

…Atiku: Failure of Due Diligence Ridicules Nigeria
…Adeniyi: A Parade of ‘Oluwole’ Certificates

By Peter Salami

A wave of national outrage has followed the resignation of former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, over alleged certificate forgery, with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, lawyer Frank Tietie, and columnist Segun Adeniyi all calling for accountability and a sweeping review of integrity within the Federal Executive Council (FEC). While Atiku went further to demand an independent probe of President Bola Tinubu’s own academic records, others focused on the broader institutional decay that has made forgery and credential fraud endemic in Nigeria’s public service.

Nnaji, who resigned on Tuesday following questions over the authenticity of his academic qualifications, insists that his resignation is not an admission of guilt. But his exit has sparked widespread public debate about credibility and due diligence in government appointments.

Reacting in a post on his X handle yesterday, Atiku said Nnaji’s resignation “has once again brought to light the deep moral crisis at the heart of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.” The former vice president called for an independent and transparent investigation into the academic and professional credentials of all members of the FEC.

Again, Atiku used the opportunity to launch a characteristic broadside against the Nigerian president. He wrote: “This episode is not isolated. It is a reflection of a pattern — a rot that begins from the very top.
“The man who occupies the office of President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has for decades been enmeshed in controversies surrounding his identity, age, and academic records. From the Chicago State University saga to multiple contradictory claims under oath, the world has seen ample evidence that Nigeria today is led by a man who himself has been unable to credibly defend the authenticity of his own certificates.”

Atiku alleged that the “moral decay” within the Tinubu administration was a direct reflection of his example. “When a man of questionable identity leads a country, deception becomes the standard of governance,” he said. “It is, therefore, unsurprising that his ministers and aides have taken after his example — falsifying documents, inflating records, and desecrating the moral foundation of our nation.”

He faulted the President for allowing Nnaji to “quietly exit through the back door” rather than face dismissal and prosecution. “Uche Nnaji should not have been allowed the courtesy of resignation,” Atiku said. “He should have been summarily dismissed and prosecuted for deceit and falsification. By permitting him to resign, the Tinubu administration has once again demonstrated that it is an assembly of forgers, impostors, and morally bankrupt individuals masquerading as public servants.”

Atiku also berated the Department of State Services (DSS) for what he described as a failure of due diligence, wondering how Nnaji’s alleged forgery escaped detection during the ministerial screening process. “The same DSS that screened out Mallam Nasir El-Rufai for alleged security concerns cleared this same character, Uche Nnaji,” he said. “Their failure has made Nigeria an object of ridicule before the world and raises the question: how many more such individuals are occupying sensitive positions in this government?”

Public affairs analyst and lawyer Frank Tietie also weighed in, saying Nnaji’s resignation represented a major indictment of Nigeria’s educational and governance systems. Speaking on ARISE News, Tietie said the scandal “transcends mere prosecution; the integrity of Nigeria’s educational system is on a global stage.” He lamented that the development had embarrassed the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, whose alumni “must feel humiliated that its certificates could be so easily procured.”

He called for a wider audit of federal officials’ credentials, stressing that Nnaji’s case should not be treated as an isolated incident. “There should be a total audit of all those persons who have forged results in the federal executive service,” Tietie said. “Uche Nnaji has committed grievous offences not only against the Nigerian education system and the Tinubu administration but also against the criminal laws of Nigeria.” Describing the resignation as “a presumption of guilt,” he urged the government to restore public confidence through accountability, insisting that “sovereignty belongs to the people, and Nigerians deserve transparency in governance.”

Similarly, ThisDay columnist Segun Adeniyi, reacting in his weekly column, A Parade of ‘Oluwole’ Certificates, said while Nnaji “may have lost his job for breaking the ‘eleventh commandment’—Thou Shall Not Get Caught—he is just one among many in our public space whose academic credentials are dubious.” Adeniyi cited several recent cases, including a monarch-elect in Ekiti State detained for falsifying University of Ibadan and NYSC certificates, and an acting director-general at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), who secured his position with a forged PhD.

He also referenced a 2023 case in which the University of Calabar confirmed that some certificates purportedly issued by it were fake, with investigations revealing that 178 people had fraudulently obtained UNN degrees, including a bread seller. “If that can happen in a respected federal university,” Adeniyi wrote, “one can only imagine the situation in the ramshackle private universities that populate the country.”

Adeniyi lamented that the forgery crisis was symptomatic of a wider national malaise. “Our most sacrosanct institutions have been invaded by a culture of fraud,” he wrote. “In religion, fake pastors abound; in medicine, quacks endanger lives; in construction, substandard work causes tragedies. But the wellspring of this decay seems to lie in the political realm.”