Alleged certificate forgery: Ex-minister Nnaji, UNN, others agree to amicable settlement
Parties in the dispute over the academic certificate of former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, have agreed to an amicable settlement. Nnaji had filed the suit, marked
Parties in the dispute over the academic certificate of former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, have agreed to an amicable settlement.
Nnaji had filed the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1909/2025, in which he prayed the court, among other things, to stop the university from releasing his academic records following allegations of certificate forgery.
The ex-minister was alleged to have forged his degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates, an allegation that led to his exit from the government.
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Listed as defendants in the suit are the Minister of Education, the National University Commission (NUC), the University of Nigeria, Nsuka (UNN), its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simon Ortuanya, the Registrar, former acting VC, Oguejaofo Ujam, and the Senate of the university.
At the mention of the case on Monday, plaintiff's Ope Muritala told the court that the case was scheduled for a hearing of all pending applications.
Muritala, however, said that there was “a new development as parties were exploring an out-of-court settlement.”
He applied for an adjournment to allow parties to explore the peaceful resolution of the case.
Lawyers to the Minister of Education, P. C. Ike, and his counterpart with the National Universities Commission (NUC), N. H. Obah, told the court they were unaware of the development.
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They said they had only heard about this in court and did not oppose Muritala's application.
Chidubem Ugwueze, who represented UNN and its officials, said the lead lawyer, Chris Uche, SAN, had informed him of the settlement plan.
He said the defendants were not opposed to the reconciliatory move but urged the court to “hear their motion for regularisation” in case the talks fail.
Justice Yilwa rejected his request and said the motion would be considered if the settlement efforts failed.
The judge then adjourned the matter until July 8 for the settlement report.
