List of top Nigerian Politicians involved in Certificate Forgery Allegations

Since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, the controversy of forged or questionable certificates has now become a recurring theme especially for some of Nigeria’s most influential politicians.

Allegations of certificate forgery have been made against both elected officials and appointees, ranging from state governors and lawmakers to ministers and even presidential candidates.

However, not every allegation has ended with a guilty verdict. Some cases collapsed due to a lack of evidence, political maneuvering, or the complexities of Nigeria’s legal system. For others, damning revelations confirmed deliberate forgery and misrepresentation of academic qualifications.

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Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, has been facing allegations of forgery since July 2023, when President Bola Tinubu nominated him for a ministerial position.

At his Senate confirmation hearing on August 1, 2023, Nnaji had claimed he graduated in 1985 and completed his  National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Jos the following year. However, the documents he submitted to the Senate raised some red flags.

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The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) also disowned the degree certificate he presented, stating that he had never graduated from the institution. In a letter dated October 2, 2025, UNN vice chancellor Professor Simon U. Ortuanya confirmed suspicions:

The degree certificate was also questionable, showing a July 1985 graduation date even though the NYSC certificate suggested service began in April that year. NYSC officials later confirmed no certificate had ever been issued to him, while UNN staff recalled he struggled academically, failed key courses, and was advised to withdraw. A convocation booklet from 1985 confirmed his absence from that year’s graduate list.

Allegations that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu forged his Chicago State University (CSU) diploma spread widely after the school released his academic records in response to a court case filed by opposition leader Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Abubakar, who lost the February 2023 election, asked a US court to compel CSU to release Tinubu’s records, hoping to prove forgery. CSU complied but explained that it no longer retains copies of diplomas once they are collected. Instead, it released sample diplomas from 1979 and confirmed Tinubu was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration that year.

CSU also confirmed that it issued replacement diplomas to Tinubu in later years. The BBC reviewed the documents and found no evidence that the diploma Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was forged, despite its differing style from the 1979 versions. CSU clarified there was no confusion about Tinubu’s gender or identity, confirming he graduated with honors in 1979.

The academic records and claims of former Senator Stella Oduah have long been a subject of controversy. According to her National Assembly profile, she had claimed to have studied at St. Paul’s College in Virginia, United States, between 1978 and 1982, where she earned a degree in Accounting.

However, in an investigative report, SaharaReporters alleged that Oduah fabricated her academic credentials. noting that the then-president of St. Paul’s College, Dr. Claud Flythe, refused to either verify or deny her claims. She was also accused of misrepresenting whether she completed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme and of using falsified documents to secure appointments as a minister and later as a senator.

In 2023, she was billed to be arraigned on eight counts related to these accusations, but proceedings stalled, and the Federal High Court has since expressed frustration over her repeated absence in court, at one point threatening to issue a bench warrant for her arrest.

The late former President Muhammadu Buhari was embroiled in a certificate controversy as far back as 2015, when the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) questioned the absence of his secondary school certificate after he emerged as the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate. Despite the allegations, he won the election.

When he sought re-election in 2019, the controversy resurfaced, as Buhari failed to include his academic credentials among the documents submitted to INEC, and critics accused him of lacking even a secondary school education.

To quiet the uproar, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) later issued an attestation certificate affirming that Buhari had indeed obtained a secondary school certificate in 1961. Over time, the official narrative has been that Buhari’s original school certificates were taken by the military (when he joined the armed forces), and that the military “lost” them.

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The dispute over former President Goodluck Jonathan’s PhD degree began when ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo publicly claimed in 2015 that Jonathan had not completed his doctoral programme.

It's widely believed that Jonathan holds a BSc in Zoology (1981), an MSc in Hydrobiology & Fisheries (1985), and a PhD in Zoology (1995), all from the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT). UNIPORT has consistently rejected the allegations, calling them baseless and stating that Jonathan did indeed complete all prescribed course requirements.

Its Deputy Registrar (Information), Dr. William Wodi, explicitly affirmed that Jonathan matriculated in 1977, earned his BSc in 1981, MSc in 1985, and was awarded his PhD in 1995. In 2018, the UNIPORT Alumni Association also defended Jonathan.

Kemi Adeosun, who served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister from November 2015 until September 2018, resigned amid allegations that she had presented a forged NYSC exemption certificate. In her resignation letter, Adeosun stated that she was unaware the exemption certificate was “not genuine,” saying she had obtained it through a third party.

She explained that, having lived and schooled abroad, she believed she was exempt from serving under NYSC rules. After her resignation, Adeosun challenged the requirement to present an NYSC certificate to hold public office.

In the case Folakemi Adeosun v. The Attorney General of the Federation (suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/303/2021), a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on July 7, 2021, that under Nigeria’s constitution, the NYSC certificate is not mandatory for appointment as a minister or for seeking certain public offices.

Importantly, the court also held that Adeosun, being a British citizen at the time she graduated in 1989 (and thus not a Nigerian citizen then), was ineligible to participate in NYSC under the law as it stood. When she later became a Nigerian citizen (well over age 30), she remained ineligible to serve. The ruling, however, did not conclusively determine whether she presented a forged exemption certificate.

Another former senator on the list is Dino Melaye, who has battled accusations of forging or misrepresenting his academic credentials. The controversy dates back to 2017 when SaharaReporters claimed that he did not graduate from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), despite his claims to have earned a degree in Geography.

ABU in turn confirmed that Melaye holds a Statement of Results indicating he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Geography) with Third Class Honours, but also raised discrepancies. For example, the statement uses “B.A Geography,” whereas ABU offers B.Sc Geography under its Faculty of Science, not a Bachelor of Arts.

Both Harvard University and the London School of Economics (LSE) denied that Melaye earned a full degree from them. While Harvard stated that he attended only a one-week seminar in 2016, LSE declared that there is no record of him obtaining any degree.

Ayodele Fayose, the former Governor of Ekiti State, has been embroiled in controversy over whether he holds a legitimate Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate from The Polytechnic, Ibadan. The issue first gained traction ahead of the 2014 governorship election when his opponents alleged that he submitted a fake HND certificate to INEC and that the Polytechnic denied ever having him as a student.

While many sources reported that The Polytechnic initially disowned his claim, saying the certificate he possessed allegedly belonged to another person, there has been an inconsistency in their responses over time. Some statements later suggested that he was, in fact, a student of the polytechnic, though this has not entirely settled the matter.

As of now, there is no public court ruling or verifiable statement that definitively confirms or invalidates Fayose’s HND certificate claim. The institution's acknowledgments have been inconsistent, and no legal judgment has settled the academic controversy in finality.

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Adams Oshiomhole has faced longstanding allegations concerning the authenticity of his primary and secondary school credentials. The dispute, first brought to public attention in 2012 by Major General Charles Airhiavbere (Retd.), claimed that Oshiomhole falsely stated he attended Iyamoh Primary School, Iyamoh, from 1957 to 1962. In contrast, records from the Edo State Ministry of Education indicate that Iyamoh Primary School was founded in 1963, a year after he claimed to have graduated from there.

Further claims assert that he listed himself as graduating from Blessed Martin's Secondary Modern School in 1965, yet his name does not appear among the listed graduands of that school for that year. There are also discrepancies in his recorded names on documents. On his primary and secondary school certificates, he is listed simply as “Adams Aliu,” while documents from his adult education at Ahmadu Bello University show “Adams O. Aliyu.” Later documents adopt the full name “Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole.”

In the Tribunal proceedings, Prof. Philip Agbebaku testified that he was Oshiomhole’s classmate at Blessed Martins from 1963 to 1965 and knew him by the name “Adams Aliu” at the time. The Tribunal initially dismissed parts of the case, but the Court of Appeal ordered that a new tribunal be convened to revisit the petition’s claims about Oshiomhole’s educational qualifications. As of now, there has been no publicly released verdict definitively proving that Oshiomhole’s primary and secondary school claims are untrue.

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Senator Ademola Adeleke, currently the governor of Osun State, has faced numerous allegations regarding his academic qualifications. His critics, including two PDP members, Rasheed Olabayo and Oluwaseun Idowu, once dragged him before the Osogbo High Court, accusing him of falsifying his West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results and secondary school testimonial to secure the PDP ticket for the September 22, 2018 (later re-run) governorship election.

Adeleke’s testimonial dated July 20, 1988, referenced “Ede Muslim Grammar School, Osun State” at a time when Osun State did not exist. Moreover, another testimonial from 2018 appeared to be signed by the same principal who signed the 1988 document, raising suspicions. In court, witnesses testified they did not see Adeleke sit the relevant exams. Despite this, Justice David Oladimeji dismissed the case, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to prove forgery or misrepresentation.

Not satisfied, new plaintiffs, Awoosiyan Olalekan, Ojejade Thomas, and Awodire Sina, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Osogbo against Adeleke, the PDP, and INEC, renewing the demand for his disqualification. However, the Court of Appeal cleared Adeleke, concluding he possessed the requisite educational credentials to run.

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