The former Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Uche Nnaji, last week resigned from the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu over allegations of certificate forgery. It was alleged that he forged his first-degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificates.
Concerns about Nnaji’s credentials first surfaced shortly after President Tinubu nominated him for a Ministerial position in 2023. Reports questioned the authenticity of the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Microbiology which he claimed to have obtained from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). During his screening for the ministerial position, Nnaji presented copies of his academic and NYSC certificates to the Senate to enable the lawmakers screen and confirm his nomination. Those documents were also presented to the Directorate of State Services (DSS), for screening and vetting.
The documents indicated that he graduated from UNN in July 1985 and completed the National Youth Service in April of the same year. That should have been a red flag to the lawmakers and the DSS if they did any scrutiny. In Nigeria, where ‘anything goes’, the red flag ‘escaped’ the eagle eye of our lawmakers and the secret police. His nomination was confirmed and he was sworn -in by the President.
If the lawmakers, as well as the DSS, could not spot the glaring error, politicians from his state in Enugu knew that something was fishy, but kept quiet. After two years in Abuja, and with Nnaji ‘’growing wings’’ whilst also thinking of running for governor of his state, what was kept in the closet was eventually brought out in the open.
In May this year, a letter from the UNN Registrar to the Public Complaints Commission stated that there was no record that the university issued a degree certificate to Nnaji in 1985, Again, responding to a Freedom of Information request from an online news medium, UNN’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simon Ortuanya, reaffirmed that Nnaji did not complete his studies and that no certificate was issued to him by the University in 1985.
It was revealed that although he was admitted into the University, Nnaji did not complete his studies, as he failed a virology course (MCB 431 AB). He allegedly wrote to the university in 1986, seeking permission to re-sit the exam. The internal memo between Nnaji and the university contradicts his claim of graduation in 1985. How his name and picture got on the list of graduands for 1985 still remains a mystery that only the University can unravel.
However, following persistent reportage on his fake certificate scandal, Nnaji approached a court seeking to restrain the UNN, the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the Senate from releasing his academic records to journalists. The court, again, declined to grant the full injunctions.
Under growing pressure from the media, the public, and civil society organizations, Nnaji was forced to tender his resignation to President Tinubu last week. In his letter, he maintained his innocence and blamed ‘political blackmailers’ for the controversy surrounding his credentials.
Nnaji’s fall from grace to grass over fake certificate scandal is not the first to be recorded in our national life and won’t definitely be the last. Many Nigerians have put the blame squarely on the doorstep of the DSS and the Senate. Those are the two institutions mandated by law to screen and confirm those to be appointed to top political offices by the President.
If we are thinking of building a just society where the rule of law and strong institutions will outlive us, it is time for the DSS and the Senate to wake up and perform their duties with the diligence that it deserves.
Although the Senate is trying to shift the blame on the Secret Police, they are also liable in what is gradually becoming a yearly embarrassment to the nation. Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District, has come out to say that the Senate only confirms persons nominated for appointment by the Presidency, but that they are not directly responsible for their screening.
I find his position laughable. Hear our lawmaker: “We are not screening. Get that clear. Screening and confirmation are two different things. Before the President sends a candidate to the Senate, there are a lot of processes, including screening them, not only on certificates, but also conducting a background check by the SSS. The SSS has to clear him. Last time the SSS brought something against somebody, we dropped the person. So don’t say we are not doing our job. We are not doing any screening; we are to do confirmation,” he said. No sir, that is not how it should be.
If the Senate is not running away from the mess that the nation has found itself, the institution and the DSS cannot wash their hands off the inglorious fake certificate scandal that has now become a yearly embarrassment to Nigeria.
Established on June 5, 1986, the DSS is a security agency in Nigeria under the supervision of the Presidency of Nigeria expected to report its activities to the President through the National Security Adviser. The law that created the DSS did not mince words. Section 3 of the National Security Agencies Act gives the Service a narrow mandate: “To prevent and detect crimes that threaten Nigeria’s internal security as well as to safeguard non-military classified information relating to national security”.
As Ministers holding strategic positions within the government and with access to sensitive and classified information, it is crucial to vet the nominees thoroughly to safeguard national security and prevent any risks of compromise. The DSS, being the country’s primary domestic intelligence agency, is entrusted with the conduct of comprehensive background checks on nominees to ensure that they do not pose any security threats.
In spite of the law, the issue of fake certificates began in 1999, with two top principal officers of the National Assembly — Senate President Evan(s) Enwerem, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari. In the case of Evan(s), Nigerians could not tell with certainty if their Senate President was Evan or Evans Enwerem.
The news of Buhari’s age and certificate forgery first broke out on 16 February, 1999, by an investigative news publication, TheNews magazine. Their investigation concluded that Buhari was born in 1970, not 1963 as he claimed, and also that he never graduated from the University of Toronto. When the heat became too much, Buhari was forced to step aside and pleaded for forgiveness from Nigerians.
Ever since Evan or Evans Enwerem and Salisu Buhari, certificate forgery has spread like wildfire and also caught up with members of the executive arm of government.
Senator Douye Diri became the Governor of Bayelsa State simply because of the discrepancies in the name of the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Deputy Governorship candidate in the state, Senator Degi-Eremienyo. This was in February 2020.
Five years earlier, Minister of Finance, Ms. Kemi Adeosun resigned her appointment following a scandal concerning the alleged forgery of her NYSC certificate. Ms. Adeosun had been invited by the late President Muhammadu Buhari to return from her base in the United Kingdom to join his government, but it ended in disgrace. Those who package the ‘’Oluwole’’ certificate for her were those that later exposed her and she had no alternative than to resign and return to her UK base.
On August 4, 2017, it was the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) that broke the news that two Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICIR) Board members appointed by the Federal Government were under investigation for “multi-million-naira corruption”. It was like a bad movie. Yet, the two appointees, Maimuna Aliyu and Sa’ad Alanamu were investigated for series of corruption cases while they served in public offices. While Alanamu was investigated on corruption charges allegedly committed while he headed several institutions in Kwara State, Aliyu had a longstanding case of abuse of office, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds against her while working with the FCTA-owned Aso Savings and Loans.
The ICIR report and public outcry that followed the discovery prompted the Federal Government to direct the two of them to step down from the proposed 14-man Board. The ICIR would later report that the Federal Government, through the DSS, indeed, failed to carry out security checks on the nominees.
It was not long after the opprobrium that greeted that scandal died down that the Federal Government found itself in another faux pas. This time around, it was the appointment of persons confirmed to have died, into Boards of parastatals.
Specifically, it was on December 29, 2017, when the Government, after appointing eight dead persons to different Boards, that it became clear that the DSS had no input in cross-checking the list of all the appointees. Rather, it was media scrutiny of the list that revealed how the dead were ‘resurrected’ in the list.
The office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) announced the appointment of 209 Board Chairpersons and 1,258 board members. It was the largest single appointments made by the late President Buhari since assuming office in 2015. The dead appointees were late Reverend Christopher Utova as member of the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research; late Senator Francis Okpozo as Chairman of the Nigerian Press Council, and late Chief Donald Ugbaja as a member of the Consumer Protection Council.
The appointment of dead persons into the Boards was not the only issue here. The list of the appointees also contained duplication of names, with few persons appointed into more than one Board. Sabo Nanono was appointed as a member of the Board of the National Agency for Science and Engineering (NASENI) and also as Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC). Kabiru Matazu was appointed as Chairman of the FCT Universal Education Board and also to chair the Board of Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta. Umaymah Abdullahi was named on the Board of Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri, as well as the Federal Medical Centre, Sokoto. Also, Habiba Umar was appointed on the board of the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, and also, the Federal Medical Centre, Birnin-Kebbi. The Federal Government, after the embarrassment, was forced to call for a review of the list.
These were clear indications that there was no transmission of any security report on the nominees from the DSS to the Senate that has the constitutional duty to finally clear and confirm them. It is also possible that there were no security checks by the Secret police in the first instance. What a shame.
Even without a proper job of conducting background checks on ministerial nominees and board appointees, the DSS, again, in 2022, dabbled into the screening of those who intended to become senior advocates in Nigeria. The then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Emmanuel Ayoola, had written to the DSS to always conduct background checks and screen those intending to wear the silk, even though many lawyers are of the view that there is no section in the DSS law that empowers the institution to sniff around the professional records of lawyers vying for silk gowns. Again, the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA), which governs the conferment of a SAN leaves no room for ambiguity. Section 5(2) provides that a lawyer must: have at least ten years post-call experience, and have achieved distinction in the legal profession as determined by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC). The LPPC is the sole statutory gatekeeper here, not the DSS, not the EFCC, and not the ICPC.
It is time for the DSS to save face, and save the nation from these recurring embarrassments. They have the manpower and know-how to do their jobs if they put their minds to it. But in Nigeria, where everybody is trying to survive the harsh economic realities, the secret police that should be a shield for the nation has its flanks open, too. Who will save Nigeria from itself?
See you next week.
