…CISLAC says Nnaji’s resignation was forced, not honourable
…HallowMace blames Senate’s ‘bow and go’ culture, demands public apology
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has demanded a lifetime ban from holding public office on former Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, insisting that his resignation over certificate forgery was not borne out of honour but public pressure.
Similarly, the HallowMace Foundation Africa, a non-governmental organisation focused on transparency and accountability, blamed the scandal on what it described as the “bow and go syndrome” during Senate screening and institutional negligence by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The groups also called on the National Assembly and DSS to publicly apologise to Nigerians, describing the incident as an “international embarrassment” resulting from their failure to properly vet the ex-minister.
In a telephone interview with journalists on Wednesday, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), said Nnaji’s attitude throughout the controversy showed he was “recalcitrant and unrepentant.”
“He did not resign of his own volition. He was forced by the public, the media, and the civil society to resign. He didn’t resign as an honourable man. He actually went to court to stop the university from releasing his record. In fact, we should ban him from public office for life,” Rafsanjani stated.
In a joint statement signed by its Executive Director, Anderson Osiebe, and Head of Public Communications, Oguh Hyginus, HallowMace Foundation Africa said the Nigerian people deserved stronger institutional safeguards against fraudulent public officers.
“The sequence of events in Minister Nnaji’s case reveals catastrophic failures in the verification systems designed to prevent such occurrences,” the statement read.
According to the group, the University of Nigeria Nsukka had publicly stated in May 2025 that it had no record of issuing a degree certificate to Nnaji in 1985 — a position reaffirmed in October 2025.
“Why wasn’t this basic verification conducted during the screening process in 2023?
The leadership of both screening institutions should issue public apologies to the Nigerian people for this grave failure of due diligence and outline concrete steps to prevent recurrences,” the organisation added.
The group questioned the credibility of Nigeria’s vetting process, warning that the failure of the National Assembly and DSS to verify such a basic claim undermines public trust.
“If the National Assembly and DSS, with their extensive resources and mandate, could not authenticate a certificate from a Nigerian institution, what confidence can citizens have in their ability to vet appointees for critical national positions?” the statement concluded.
Chief Uche Nnaji tendered his resignation to President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday following the damning certificate forgery revelations that sparked widespread outrage.
