Following a Premium Times investigation that claimed he submitted fake academic and NYSC certificates to the Senate during his ministerial screening in 2023, Nnaji resigned on Tuesday.
According to reports, the documents were denied by the National Youth Service Corps and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The minister should have been fired and charged instead of being permitted to “quietly exit through the backdoor,” Atiku responded in a post on X on Wednesday.
“The resignation of Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, on Tuesday has once again highlighted the profound moral crisis,” he stated. What should normally be a source of national embarrassment is now being covered up as a “voluntary resignation,” an effort to hide yet another incident that exemplifies this government’s tendency toward falsification.
To be honest, Uche Nnaji shouldn’t have been given the opportunity to resign. He ought to have been charged with lying and falsification and promptly terminated. Allowing him to discreetly leave through the back door once more proved that it is a group of imposters, forgers, and morally reprehensible people posing as public servants
He also attacked the Department of State Services, claiming that Nnaji was exempted from ministerial screening due to purported inconsistencies in his qualifications by the same organization that denied former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai due to security concerns.
“What is even more embarrassing is that this same character, Uche Nnaji, was cleared by the same Department of State Services that screened Mallam Nasir el-Rufai out for alleged’security concerns,'” he said.
The former vice president, who ran as the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, attributed the controversy to a practice of dishonesty “that begins from the very top.”
Insisting that Nigerians should have access to the truth about individuals holding public office, he demanded an impartial inquiry into the qualifications of the President and every other member of the Federal Executive Council.
“Until this cleansing is done, Nigeria will continue to sink deeper into moral decay, economic ruin, and global embarrassment,” he added.
Neither the DSS nor the Presidency have responded to Atiku’s allegations as of the time of publication.
