Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has accepted the resignation of the embattle Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Geoffrey Uche Nnaji, following the allegations of certificate forgery against him.
Nnaji was appointed as a member of Federal Executive Council in August 2023.
According to the local media reports on Thursday, Nnaji, who resigned on Wednesday, thanked President Tinubu for allowing him to serve Nigeria.
Nnaji also said that he had been a target of blackmail by political opponents.
However, President Tinubu thanked him for his services and wished him well in his future endeavours.
Meanwhile, Nnaji was alleged to have forged the certificate of the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 2023, which he presented during the screening exercise for appointment as a minister.
Before the minister’s resignation, he had approached the court over the matter, insisting that he bagged a BSc. degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry with second class honours (lower division) in 1985 and that the university has continued to hold back his academic laurels, while his spokesman, Reuben Ugwu, told a news conference on Tuesday that the UNN was playing politics with his principal’s academic records.
However, some Nigerians and civil society organization have called for thorough investigations on the alleged certificate forgery and prosecute the former minister if found culpable and warned that the matter should not end with his resignation.
