Bola Tinubu’s bold move forcing Uche Nnaji’s resignation over certificate issues highlights leadership resolve and Nigeria’s institutional rot

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has guts. His most recent decision against “organised crime” is a major proof. The President asked Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Mr. Uche Nnaji to resign over certificates challenges.

Also read: Atiku Slams FG over uche Nnaji resignation scandal

Tinubu was decisive – Nnaji had to go, and quickly. It is a sensitive issue that required delicate handling.
Someone said that there could not be two captains on this ship.

Tinubu is pulling that ship with all the competence that he can. He had loads of such competence.

An advantage of being a politician, which Nnaji is using well, is to blame faceless detractors for his woes. What is a politician without detractors?

Nnaji is a step in the right direction, yes, steps ahead, by not leaving us in doubt about the identity of the one pushing the mischief. According to Nnaji, His Excellency Peter Mbah, Governor of Enugu was responsible for his current woes.

What a brave man Nnaji is! His aides claim Nnaji got into this problem because Mbah did not want competition in 2027, when Mbah, who defeated Nnaji in the 2023 governorship race, wants to run for re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, a secure party, that those who see tomorrow have identified.

Politicians are baffling. How do they over-step 2026 and leap into 2027? Nobody should shut Nnaji up. He should say more. He sounds like a victim of the injustices that Nigeria easily serves her citizens.

Justice for Nnaji is important to cure some of the defects of our federalism.

Mbah, not made to minimise moment, or momentum, has moved into APC earlier than expected. His departure to APC was speculated. On Friday, he served notice that he would join APC formally on Tuesday,

14 October 2025, the same day that Governor Douye Diri has also advertised that he would officially join APC.
After 14 October, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would for the first time since 1999, not have Governors in South East and South South, two zones it once dominated.

Those who like further trivialisation of political discussions would say that Rivers State is still PDP. Let us agree that Rivers State is apolitical.

If I were Nnaji, I would pursue this matter to the Supreme Court which appears to be a better reader of certificates than the issuers.

The matters for determination would be:

. Contempt of Court. The court had ruled in an injunction restraining University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, from tampering with his academic records. The university ignored the order.

. Denial of fair hearing. While his matter is in court he has been forced to resign, making the outcome of the case useless.

. Discrimination. Without concerns for our laws which abhor discrimination, the certificates affair has been handled in ways that suggest that if Nnaji was from a different section of the map, he would still be Minister. If his certificate was from a Chicago university, would he have been kicked out?

. Invasion of privacy. Nnaji’s right to privacy have been grossly violated. He has been denuded, publicly. He has been subjected to opprobrium. There are precedents. How were they managed?

. Whether it was an offence for a prospective Governor to be handsome. There are allegations that some opponents charge that Nnaji’s looks are as fake as his papers.

What was the Supreme Court’s decision on alleged certificate forgers? Why did Nnaji not find out?
It will be interesting to see how Tinubu will manage Nnaji’s departure? Will he go after other members of the organised crime ring? It is unlikely that Nnaji single-handedly designed and printed those certificates. If he did, he is a genius.

Tinubu has personal experience of how agonising these allegations can be. He is unfair to Nnaji unless he finds those forgers who could not hand the Minister correct documents. Nnaji, if he knows them, can sue for breach of contract and consequential losses.

Of what use is the “screening” of Ministers, and similiar political appointees, if we cannot save them from these embarrassments? Will the “screeners” keep their jobs, and be promoted for embarrassing the President? We thought we were done discussing certificates.

The media reported discovery of a fake NYSC Orientation Camp in Nasarawa in 2012. Nothing was done about those corpers, their mobilisers. They could be in the system, covering the cracks that make the public notice fake certificates.

More suits could be on the way. I have been investigating a noticeable drop in the taste of Rock Beer about the same time that Nnaji said he was an NYSC member at Plateau Breweries, then makers of Rock. Was he directly involved in making Rock?

Lawyers with expertise in these matters, whose certificates are not disputed, can collaborate with me to sue Nnaji, Rock, Plateau State Government, and NYSC, jointly and severally.

We will share the settlement 50:50.

How does the President intend to sustain his insistence on Nigerians using valid certificates? A courageous campaign, I admit. Is he ready to take on the organised crime that permeates the public and private sectors?
Or is Tinubu planning to resign just like Nnaji? Justice for Nnaji!

Finally…

A PRESIDENTIAL clemency list is almost worthless without controversy. Tinubu curated enough controversies into his lengthy list that there is something for everyone to talk about.

We may be at it without knowing when he would amend the Electoral Act. Nigerians, should be woke.

The next few months would run so fast that we may be late in realising why most politicians have made 2027, and not 2026, their next year.

THE convoy of Zacch Adedeji, the chairman of FRS, that is our ‘Chief Tax Collector’, in Abuja is more than the convoy of any of the President’s/PM’s of the 27 EU countries that I have ever seen in my over 2 decades of living in Europe. Samuel Omogor on X @ 06:08 on Thursday 09 October 2025.

Within 24 hours, 168,000 people had viewed the post which is longer than this excerpt. He stated that prudent management of resources was as important as collecting taxes. A reader responded that the convoy of the Head of the Fire Service in

Abuja was longer.

IS time running out on President Bola Tinubu. It is in the news that he has a list of over 900 people on whom he wants to bestow national honours.

I do not what they did to earn the honours but if there are over 900 people who have served Nigeria and deserve honours, should Tinubu not be worried about the quality of their service that left us in this state? A small reminder – it is national honours, not Tinubu honours.

“SIR, you’re welcome to the chamber of the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Unfortunately, we don’t clap here, we would have given you a standing ovation,” Senate President Obong Godswill Akpabio, welcoming James Ibori, former Governor of Delta State to the Senate last Wednesday.