A hearing in a lawsuit filed by Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, against the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), was postponed on Monday after lawyers for the university failed to file their responses on time, a federal court in Abuja said.
Justice Hauwa Yilwa of the Federal High Court adjourned the case until November 10, after proceedings were stalled due to what the judge described as the “inability of counsel for the respondents to regularize their processes.”
Nnaji filed the case following allegations of certificate forgery that have drawn public attention to his academic records. Court documents show that he is seeking an order preventing the university and its officials from altering or withholding his academic records, as well as a directive compelling them to release his transcript.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1909/2025, lists the Minister of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), UNN, its Vice-Chancellor Prof. Simon Ortuanya, and other university officials as respondents.
At Monday’s session, Nnaji’s lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Sebastine Hon, told the court that all respondents had been served with the case documents. He accused the UNN Vice-Chancellor of breaching court protocol by allegedly writing to Premium Times—an online newspaper—after being served, disputing Nnaji’s status as a graduate of the university.
According to Hon, the letter led to a report published on October 4, titled “Investigation: The Serial Certificate Forger in President Tinubu’s Cabinet”, which he described as “damaging” to his client’s reputation.
Hon argued that the publication violated the court’s directive to maintain the status quo pending hearing. The university’s lawyer, E.M. Asogwa, denied wrongdoing but said the institution would advise its officials to comply with the court’s order.
Justice Yilwa noted the exchange and adjourned the case until November 10 for substantive hearing.