Nigerian media have been tasked to embark on investigating certificates being paraded by Nigerian public office-holders to expose those with fake certificates.
The Chairman, Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria, Enugu State chapter, Dr Ambrose Igboke, stated this on Wednesday in an interview with newsmen in Enugu. Igboke said as the watchdog of society, the media should check cases of certificate forgery “through thorough investigations”.
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He recalled that the media had previously exposed such frauds, including those of former House of Representatives Speaker, Salisu Buhari, and former Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.
On the forgery saga pertaining to Mr Uche Nnaji, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Igboke stated that, “Our leaders don’t learn. They should do legitimate things so that this kind of thing doesn’t occur in our polity. Politicians shouldn’t give their enemies swords to haunt them, and be crying political influences when they are exposed.”
He advised Nnaji to prove his innocence in court.
Also speaking, a security expert, Assistant Commandant General Edwin Ugwuja (rtd), advised that the law compel security agencies to verify certificates of the nation’s citizenry. He said it should be a mandate and continuous routine.
Ugwuja told THE WHISTLER that, “”I don’t want to judge anybody in particular. I am saying the universal truth. It is against the law to do a media trial. Let the law take its effect. But security agencies should endeavour to scrutinize the credentials of our leaders, and indeed everybody. It is not rocket science.
“The law should compel issuing institutions to make the database of their certificates accessible to the police, DSS, NSCDC, Nigerian Intelligence Agency, among others. It is the most proactive means of checkmating these excesses. We must unite to make Nigeria greater again. Nigerian citizens are being embarrassed outside Nigeria because of the sins of few. It must stop.”