Certificate Forgery: Minister avoids press conference to defend self

The Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, who is currently enmeshed in certificate forgery on Monday refused to appear at a press conference initiated by his office to address the certificate forgery scandal involving him.

Penpushing reports that the press conference invitation, captioned, ‘MINISTER SPEAKS,’ gave the impression that the Minister was going to personally speak to and respond to questions from journalists on the certificate scandal.

The Minister had earlier been exposed of forging the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates he presented to secure his ministerial appointment in 2023.

Penpushing further reports that the Minister’s office had earlier sent out an invitation to journalists to attend a press conference, expected to address the scandal, at 2 p.m., at the Raw Material Research and Development Council in Abuja.

The journalists from various local and international media outlets operating in the country filled the conference room designated for the press conference by the minister’s media team ahead of the scheduled time.

Penpushing also reports to the amazement of journalists, after one and a half hours of waiting in the conference room, the minister failed to appear, instead his spokesperson, Robert Ngwu, alongside other officials of the ministry in Abuja, showed up in the conference room.

The press conference, scheduled for 2 p.m., did not commence until about 3:30 p.m., and his (Nnaji) media team distributed two documents to journalists, while the first was a paper showing blurred faces of what was described as the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), 1985 graduating class.

Penpushing reports that the second was a December 2023 letter from the university registrar, addressed to Peoples Gazette in response to its inquiry on Nnaji’s academic records, while minister’s spokesperson insisted that he (Nnaji) graduated from University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

“Let me state clearly and for the record: Chief Uche Nnaji is a proud alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), having graduated in July 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry, with Second Class (Honours), Lower Division’, insisted.

Penpushing further reports that, a closer examination of the documents, however, showed discrepancies, while the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), registrar’s letter identified the minister as “Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji,” the class gallery listed the name “Nnaji Uchenna G” — two clearly different names.

The Minister’s spokesperson when confronted with the discrepancies dismissed it, arguing that in Igboland Uchechukwu and Uchenna are the same thing, alleging that the Minister was being targeted by political rivals.

Penpushing also reports that the media aide pointed fingers at Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah, of orchestrating false narrative and political intrigue, but could not provide any proof to back this claim.

“You know, in Igbo land, Uchechukwu and Uchenna are the same thing. We have good records that he (Mr Mbah) is the one behind the mask,” the spokesperson declared.

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