The immediate past Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, was on Wednesday arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on arrival from Enugu through a chartered flight.
Penpushing reports that airport source disclosed that Nnaji would be handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for interrogation, while it would be recalled that the commission had been on the trail of Nnaji since he resigned from office last year following investigations that unveiled his forged academic certificates.
The Federal High Court in Abuja in mid-June ordered the commission to arrest the former Minister for investigation into the certificate forgery scandal, and in addition the court also granted the commission leave to declare him wanted through national newspapers, social media platforms and other media.
Penpushing further reports that the agency had informed 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 commission’s invitation to 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.
Penpushing also reports that Nnaji had submitted the forged documents to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023, while 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 embattled former minister thereafter, owned up that University of Nigeria Nzzuka(UNN) never issued him a degree certificate, an admission that confirmed the fake academic saga, while he had initially denied the existence of the court order against him
Penpushing reports that Nnaji on June 18, 2026 filed an appeal against the arrest order at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, according to a notice of appeal
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