The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has finally launched a search for a former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, over his certificate forgery scandal.
The ICPC has been investigating Mr Nnaji’s forgery scandal.
Insiders had disclosed that the former minister could be prosecuted if the investigation showed that he truly forged his credentials.
The ICPC’s investigation followed a painstaking two-year investigation published by Premium Times in October last year, which revealed that the then-minister forged his UNN degree and NYSC certificates, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023.
An insider said the anti-graft agency has now advanced its investigation into the forgery scandal against the former minister.
Reliable sources familiar with the development said that the ICPC’s manhunt for Nnaji followed the former minister’s failure to honour invitations issued by the anti-graft agency regarding his forgery scandal.
An insider, who asked not to be named because he was not permitted to speak on the matter, said the UNN management had responded to the ICPC’s enquiries regarding the ongoing probe, and the former minister had been repeatedly invited for interrogation.
He said the ICPC had extended invitations to Nnaji via WhatsApp, email, and phone for scheduled interrogations, but the former minister has failed to show up.
“The ICPC is looking for him everywhere to possibly arrest him, and if we can’t find him, we will most likely declare him wanted,” the source told PREMIUM TIMES.
Immunity from criminal prosecution
Another source informed Premium Times that Nnaji’s refusal to honour ICPC invitations extended to him was based on his strategy to continue hiding in the hope of enjoying immunity from criminal prosecution if he wins the 2027 governorship election in Enugu State.
Premium Times earlier reported that the former minister quietly moved to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), under which he unsuccessfully contested the 2023 governorship election in Enugu State.
In late May, Nnaji emerged as the governorship candidate of the Nyesom Wike-backed PDP faction ahead of the 2027 general election.
It was earlier reported that Nnaji was desperate to become governor, among other reasons, to enjoy immunity from prosecution if he wins the governorship poll.
Uche Nnaji’s silence
Robert Ngwu, the special adviser on media to Nnaji, did not respond to multiple calls seeking his comments since Monday.
Ngwu received and read an enquiry forwarded to him via WhatsApp on Monday, but had yet to respond as of Tuesday morning.
Background
In October 2023, Premium Times began investigating Nnaji’s academic records.
The then-minister had submitted a degree and NYSC certificates to President Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023.
He claimed he obtained a degree certificate from UNN, where he purportedly graduated in 1985.
Apparently disturbed by the scrutiny, Nnaji filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja to block both UNN and its vice-chancellor, Simon Ortuanya, a professor, from releasing his academic records.
Apart from the UNN and its vice-chancellor, the minister of education, the National Universities Commission, the university’s registrar, its former Acting Vice-Chancellor, Oguejiofor Ujam, a professor, and the Senate of the university were listed as defendants in the suit.
However, the politician, through his legal team, recently applied for an out-of-court settlement.
Before the then-minister could obtain an injunction from the court, Ortuanya had responded to Premium Times’ Freedom of Information (FOI) letter, confirming that Nnaji had forged his UNN degree certificate.
The UNN registrar would shortly thereafter corroborate Ortuanya’s position, stating that although Nnaji was admitted to the university in 1981, he neither graduated nor received any certificate.
In response to a separate FOI letter from Premium Times, NYSC authorities disowned the discharge certificate the former minister possessed.
Nnaji resigned as minister three days after the investigation exposing his forged degree and NYSC certificates was published.
Many Nigerians had called for Nnaji’s prosecution, maintaining that his resignation was inadequate given his violations of various Nigerian laws, including the Criminal Code Act.
Earlier this year, a legal practitioner, Liborous Oshoma, criticised the Nigerian government for failing to prosecute Nnaji over the certificate forgery scandal, maintaining that people like the former minister “should be prosecuted and banned from holding public office to serve as a deterrent to others.”
Meanwhile, in March, it was also reported that an investigative panel set up by Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, found that Mr Nnaji indeed forged his degree and NYSC certificates.
