Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called for a life ban from holding public office on former Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, maintaining that the ex-minister was unrepentant and only forced to resign.
This was even as HallowMace Foundation Africa, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting accountability and transparency in public service, blamed the degree certificate and National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate scandal surrounding the ex-minister on what it described as ‘bow and go syndrome’ in the Senate screening process and institutional failure on the part of the Department of State Security (DSS).
CISLAC and HallowMace called on the National Assembly and DSS to apoligise to Nigerians for what it termed an international embarrassment arising from their institutional failures.
In a telephone interview with newsmen on Wednesday, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), said that Nnaji was recalcitrant and busy trading blames, when all material evidence had indicted him, hence he should never be allowed to hold public office in Nigeria again.
“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,” he stated.
Also, in a statement jointly signed by its Executive Director, Anderson Osiebe, and its Head of Public Communications, Oguh Hyginus, HallowMace Foundation Africa maintained that the Nigerian public deserved transparent and accountable institutions that serve as effective gatekeepers 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.
“According to the timeline of events, University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, had clearly stated in May 2025 that they had no record of issuing a degree certificate to Nnaji in 1985, and this position was 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 being taken to prevent recurrences.
“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 civil society organisation stated.
NATIONAL POST recalls that Ex-minister Nnaji tendered his resignation to President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday following a damning certificate for forgery scandal around him.
