Uche Nnaji Arrested at Airport Over Forged Certificates

The former Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, was arrested on Wednesday at Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu. He was about to board a chartered flight to Abuja when he was taken into custody.

Sources at the airport confirmed the arrest to PREMIUM TIMES. They said Mr Nnaji would be handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for questioning.

The ICPC had been looking for the former minister since he resigned last year. Investigations revealed that he forged his academic certificates.

In mid-June, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the ICPC to arrest Mr Nnaji over the certificate forgery case. The court also allowed the commission to declare him wanted in national newspapers, on social media, and other media outlets.

The ICPC said its request to the court came after Mr Nnaji repeatedly failed to respond to invitations for “investigative activities” about the forgery claims.

The ICPC’s invitation followed a two-year investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, published in October last year. The investigation found that Mr Nnaji submitted a forged degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and a fake National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.

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

Mr Nnaji later admitted that UNN never issued him a degree certificate. This admission confirmed the findings of the investigation by PREMIUM TIMES.

Initially, Mr Nnaji denied that there was a court order against him. He called the PREMIUM TIMES report a “media trial.”

On June 18, Mr Nnaji filed an appeal against the arrest order at the Court of Appeal in Abuja. This information came from a notice of appeal exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.