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By Declan Nkwopara
Last week, the disgraced former Minister of Science and Innovation, Mr Uchechukwu Geoffrey Nnaji, sought to rephrase the calamity that ended his tenure in a vain bid to put life back into his damaged political life through orchaestrated media messaging.
In fact, it was with great pain and dismay that I read a piece captioned ‘2027 and political targeting of Uche Nnaji,” which appeared on page 18 of the Sun Newspaper issue of October 22, 2025. By the time I digested the tortuous attempt by the writer, Chukwunonye Okereke, it struck me that such lazy endeavour to twist the facts and weave a sentimental narrative should not go unrebutted by way of a rejoinder.
What the writer of the article tried to do or was paid to attempt was add insult to injury by twisting facts in a vain effort to pull the wool over the eyes of well-meaning citizens. As an alumnus of the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka; the narratives around the disgraced former Minister Uche Nnaji, are unsettling and distressing. And I believe that I am speaking the minds of many alumni of that great institution.
Apart from trying to sully the reputation of the university, especially UNN’s legacy of academic excellence and administrative rigour, Uche Nnaji does not seem content with bringing the image of the university to disrepute. He has decided to sustain his infamous antics by resorting to emotional blackmail through hack writers in the ignoble intention of reducing his crime to partisan political rivalry.
Nothing could be so dimwitted and insulting than the first lines of the pity-me opinion article under review. With shameless audacity and devious feeling of entitlement, the hired writer opened his malicious piece thus: “In Enugu’s political landscape, a storm is brewing—one that reveals the desperate underbelly of power, rivalry, and survival. At the centre of it all stands Governor Peter Mbah, whose alleged orchestration of the Uche Nnaji certificate scandal has become a defining symbol of political desperation ahead of the 2027 elections.”
Well, perhaps on account of his many years of mingling with some politicians of questionable background, the disgraced minister thinks that everything, including serious crimes and academic fraud, could be made to dissolve into thin air merely by imputing partisan competition.
I am not holding brief for Governor Peter Mbah, but what Uche Nnaji does not seem to understand is that his actions have rubbed negatively on many of us that passed through the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. As such, he does not know that ever since the news of his escapades with UNN degree certificate broke, we have continued to talk among ourselves.
There are a lot of things we are doing, and intend to do, to clear the name of the university, as well as, preserve the brilliance of academic accomplishments by many alumni of the institution.
Briefly, Uche Nnaji and whoever it was that he hired to write the piece in the Sun newspaper or indeed any other Nigerian newspaper or online media, should see the certificate scandal that led to the former Minister’s forced exit as evidence of a ghost that came back to life. I shall explain.
While preliminary review by some concerned alumni showed that only Uche Nnaji knows how and from where he procured the bogus degree and dubious National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificates, efforts are on to find out whether he induced any staff of the institution to certify that the forged degree emanated from UNN, or that the letter of acknowledgement of the degree as a making of the university was also a forgery.
So, when Chukwunonye Okereke (I hope s/he is real) wrote in the article in the Sun newspaper under review, among other fabrications, that “The certificate scandal involving Chief Uche Nnaji, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, erupted like a bombshell.
“The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) suddenly announced that it could not trace Nnaji’s graduation record, contradicting earlier documentation issued by its own registrar in December 2023 that confirmed his 1985 graduation. That single reversal ignited a political firestorm,” it was obvious that he was paid to embark on a voyage of mischief and malice.
The sinister motives of Uche Nnaji and whoever that was trying to divest him of criminal responsibility, came into full glare in the following assertions: “The University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) suddenly announced that it could not trace Nnaji’s graduation record, contradicting earlier documentation issued by its own registrar in December 2023 that confirms his graduation.”
Before I proceed, let me clear the ignorance displayed by the above assertion. What a student in need of transcript does is apply to the university, stating year of admission and graduation. With the information the university goes through the records and furnishes him with a transcript, if indeed he graduated without deficiencies. That Nnaji did not take those simple steps shows the hollowness of his claims.
Perhaps, Chukwunonye Okereke, or whoever authored the opinion article, was merely setting the ground work for his/her closing allegations against the UNN Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simon Ortuanya and Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Mbah.
“The contradictions in UNN’s letters, the sudden involvement of Ortuanya, and the registrar’s silence all feed into a growing belief that this is a hatchet job. And Nnaji, refusing to bow, has become a symbol of resistance—standing tall in court and in public, determined to defend his integrity against what he calls “state-backed blackmail.”
In the meantime, this much are all that Nnaji and his cheerleaders should digest until the law takes its due course: Was it Ortuanya or Mbah that helped him to apply for opportunity to remedy his deficient academic courses? Nnaji has a lot of explaining to do, especially his plea to the UNN to rescind the order on him to withdraw due to habitual truancy, which he covers with incessant hospitalization claims.
Nnaji should prepare to face the many graduates of UNN that are preparing to take things up with him over the infamous certificate saga.
Those who love Uche Nnaji should advise him to behave properly and show contrition for the huge damage that his indiscretion and hubris caused Nigeria and Nigerians. It seems he is blinded by his narrow political aspirations to understand the gravity of his offence.
• Dr Nkwopara, a Geologist, writes from Lafia, Nasarawa State.
