A prominent human rights activist, lawyer and fiery social commentator, Inibehe Effiong declared on Monday night that the embattled Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji caught in the web of double certificate forgery must by Tuesday morning surrender himself to the police for investigation.
Effiong also called for the immediate suspension of the minister by President Bola Tinubu emphasising that it would be an opportunity for him to tell Nigerians that he is not running a cartel and “a government of certificate forgers”.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television programme, Politics Today monitored by Newsmata.com.ng, (NM) Effiong said while the matter remained in the realm of allegation, the president must show willingness to investigate it.
NM reports that the Premium Times had exposed the alleged forgery by the minister of his University of Nigeria, Nsukka degree certificate and the National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate. Both institutions disowned the certificates being paraded by Nnaji which he had submitted to the Senate in 2023 for clearance following his ministerial nomination.
But fielding questions from Channels Television, Effiong, against the stoic silence from the presidency, insisted that “This minister must be immediately suspended pending conclusion of investigation. He has to surrender himself tomorrow morning to the police for investigation for forgery, otherwise, they will be telling Nigerians that we are running a government of certificate forgers. That we are running a government of criminality”.
According to him, “The government must show willingness to address it. We cannot have a minister of innovation whose Innovation is now being linked to alleged certificate forgery. A minister of Technology whose technological skill is being now purportedly attributed to forgery.
“This is an embarrassment on our country and President Tinubu has an opportunity to tell Nigerians that he is not running a cartel if it’s truly a government that cares about the law”, the radical lawyer posited.
Anchor of the programme, Seun Okinbaloye who expressed concern at the silence from the presidency, challenged the minister to come on the programme and clear himself.
“Maybe the minister could just come out and explain himself. He would have classmates. He would have people he graduated with, maybe pictures of his graduation. It’s important to clear the air and the presidency is not talking about”, Okinbaloye stated.
Describing the scandal as “a big slap because we’ve seen this in the past”, he wondered “How come people rise to this position with alleged fraudulent certificate”.
