Public affairs analyst and activist, Mahdi Shehu, has urged Nigerians to expose officials who occupy public and private offices with fake academic certificates.
In a post shared on X on Sunday, the 12th of October, 2025, Shehu insisted that the time has come to publicly identify individuals parading forged credentials and deceiving the public while damaging the country’s governance system.
“As it stands today, there are several Nigerians parading fake academic credentials and occupying various seats in government and the private sector, pretending to be big men while in the garb of criminals,” he wrote.
He blamed the prevalence of certificate forgery among officeholders for Nigeria’s slow progress, stressing that such individuals go to great lengths to hide their deceit, often committing additional crimes in the process.
“As long as we continue to have criminal forgers presiding over us, our society will continue to sink, stagnate and stink,” Shehu said.
Shehu encouraged citizens to play an active role in exposing forgers by submitting verified information or suspicious records to credible journalists, whistleblowers, or investigative media platforms.
“One of the ways we can checkmate the menace of forgery, especially among desperate politicians, is to start mentioning the names of forgers that we know,” he added.
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He also disclosed that he possesses forged academic documents allegedly linked to three members of the House of Representatives, two senators, and a governor from the North West. According to him, the officials superimposed their names on genuine certificates belonging to others.
“They submitted the forged certificates to INEC, contested the 2019 and 2023 elections, and were declared winners,” he claimed.
Shehu further urged Nigerians to verify the academic qualifications of their elected and appointed leaders, saying such an audit would reveal shocking truths and promote accountability.
“Please, just spare some time to do a credentials audit of your representatives, governors, ministers, heads of MDAs, and all other pretenders. The outcome will shock you, and the society will be cleaner and more decent. You owe that national duty to Nigeria,” Shehu said.