Editor-in-Chief and Chief Operating Officer of Premium Times, Musikilu Mojeed, has narrated how a whistleblower helped the Newspaper to uncover the certificate forgery by the Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji.
Mr Mojeed said this while speaking on Channels TV Programme, Politics Today.
He explained that whistleblower expressed confidence that if diligent investigation was done, it would be able to uncover something shocking.
The Premium Times Editor said the newspaper’s management assigned the story to reporters upon receipt of the tip-off from the whistleblower.
He said an anonymous whistleblower contacted Premium Times through the newspaper’s newsroom email, alerting it to discrepancies in Mr Nnaji’s certificates as well and called for an investigation.
Mr Mojeed then detailed how the newspaper carried out the investigation, sending FOI requests to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where Mr Nnaji attended and the NYSC authorities, and reviewing several documents, and unsuccessfully seeking clarifications from Mr Nnaji.
Meanwhile, Mr Nnaji has now resigned from his position as Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, science, and technology.
It would be recalled that painstaking two-year investigation published by Premium Times last Saturday revealed that Mr Nnaji forged his degree and NYSC certificates, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023.
He also noted that, during the process, UNN initially failed to respond to the first FOI request submitted on 1 February 2024.
Mr Mojeed narrated that he later understood the failure was caused by interested parties determined to frustrate the investigation.
