The immediate past Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, has been arrested.
According to a report by Premium Times, Nnaji, who was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on arrival from Enugu via a chartered flight, would be handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for interrogation.
The ICPC had reportedly 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. Beyond the arrest order, the court also granted the commission leave to declare him wanted through national newspapers, social media platforms and other media.
The ICPC had told the court that its ex parte application followed Nnaji’s repeated failure to honour invitations extended to him for “investigative activities” over the forgery allegations.
The ICPC’s invitation to Nnaji reportedly followed a two-year investigation by Premium Times, which the newspaper said was published in October last year, and 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.
According to Premium Times, its 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 would later admit that UNN never issued him a degree certificate
