The quick previous Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, was arrested on Wednesday on the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on arrival from Enugu by way of a chartered flight.
Authoritative sources on the airport confirmed the arrest to PREMIUM TIMES, saying Mr Nnaji could be handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for interrogation.
The ICPC had been on the path of the previous minister since he resigned from workplace final 12 months following investigations that exposed he solid his educational certificates.
In mid-June, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the ICPC to arrest Mr Nnaji for investigation into the certificates forgery scandal. Beyond the arrest order, the court docket additionally granted the fee go away to declare him wished by nationwide newspapers, social media platforms and different media.
The ICPC had advised the court docket that its ex parte software adopted Mr Nnaji’s repeated failure to honour invites prolonged to him for “investigative activities” over the forgery allegations.
The ICPC’s invitation to Mr Nnaji adopted a two-year investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, revealed in October final 12 months, which discovered that the then-minister solid his University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) diploma and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates.
He had submitted the solid paperwork to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate throughout his ministerial affirmation in 2023.
The newspaper’s findings confirmed that the solid bachelor’s diploma and NYSC certificates have been additionally offered 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 by no means issued him a level certificates, an admission that validated this newspaper’s investigation.
Mr Nnaji had initially denied the existence of the court docket order in opposition to him, describing a PREMIUM TIMES’ report as a “media trial.”
On 18 June, Mr Nnaji filed an attraction in opposition to the arrest order on the Court of Appeal, Abuja, in keeping with a discover of attraction completely obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.