Former Minister Uche Nnaji Arrested Over Certificate Forgery Scandal

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Former Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, was arrested on Wednesday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on arrival from Enugu via a chartered flight. According to authoritative sources at the airport, he would be handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for interrogation.

The ICPC had been on the trail of the former minister since he resigned from office last year following investigations that revealed he forged his academic certificates. In mid-June, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the ICPC to arrest Mr Nnaji for investigation into the certificate forgery scandal.

The ICPC had told the court that its ex parte application followed Mr Nnaji's repeated failure to honour invitations extended to him for "investigative activities" over the forgery allegations. The ICPC's invitation to Mr Nnaji followed a two-year investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, published in October last year, which found that the then-minister forged his University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates.

He had submitted the forged documents to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023. The newspaper's findings showed that the forged bachelor's degree and NYSC certificate were also presented to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the State Security Service, and the Senate.

The former minister later admitted that UNN never issued him a degree certificate, an admission that validated this newspaper's investigation. Mr Nnaji had initially denied the existence of the court order against him, describing a PREMIUM TIMES' report as a 'media trial'.

On 18 June, Mr Nnaji filed an appeal against the arrest order at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, according to a notice of appeal exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

You may be wondering why Mr Nnaji thought he could get away with this. It turns out that Mr Nnaji is a seasoned politician who has served in various capacities, including as a member of the House of Representatives and a Senator. Mr Nnaji is also a lawyer by profession.

The court's decision to order his arrest is a significant turn of events in the ongoing fight against corruption in Nigeria. The country has seen a rise in high-profile corruption cases in recent years, with several public officials arrested and tried for various crimes.