Fresh blow for Uche Nnaji as ICPC wins court backing after dramatic airport arrest

Former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, will remain in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission after the anti-graft agency secured a court warrant to detain him for an initial 14 days.

The fresh court backing marks a major escalation in the certificate forgery scandal that forced Mr Nnaji out of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet and has continued to follow his political comeback plans.

According to Premium Times, the commission obtained the remand warrant to allow investigators hold the former minister for interrogation “in the first instance,” with a possible extension if the agency requires more time.

Mr Nnaji was arrested on Wednesday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly after arriving from Enugu aboard a chartered flight.

He was picked up with the assistance of operatives of the State Security Service and later handed over to the ICPC.

The commission confirmed the arrest in a statement by its spokesperson, John Odey, who said the former minister had been taken to the ICPC headquarters in Abuja for further investigation.

“He was apprehended with the assistance of the State Security Services and subsequently handed over to the ICPC for further investigation,” Mr Odey said.

“The commission assures the public that the matter will be pursued diligently in accordance with the law.”

According to the ICPC, Mr Nnaji’s arrest followed an order of the Federal High Court in Abuja after he allegedly failed to honour repeated invitations from the commission.

Investigators are questioning him over allegations that he forged a University of Nigeria, Nsukka degree certificate and an NYSC discharge certificate, both of which were reportedly submitted during his ministerial screening in 2023.

The former minister has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. He also denied the existence of the arrest order, even though he later filed an appeal against it at the Court of Appeal in Abuja on 18 June.

The latest remand warrant now gives the ICPC legal authority to keep him in custody while it presses ahead with the investigation.

The scandal began after an investigation revealed Mr Nnaji’s academic records and reported that the former minister claimed to have graduated from UNN in 1985.

But the university, in response to a Freedom of Information request, reportedly confirmed that although Mr Nnaji was admitted in 1981, he did not graduate and was not issued the certificate in his possession.

The NYSC also reportedly disowned the discharge certificate linked to him.

Before the records were released, Mr Nnaji had filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop UNN and its officials from releasing his academic records. He later applied for an out-of-court settlement.

Mr Nnaji resigned from office three days after the investigation was published, but the controversy did not end with his exit from government.

Calls for his prosecution grew louder, with critics arguing that resignation was not enough for allegations involving forged credentials submitted for a federal appointment.

In March, an investigative panel set up by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, reportedly found that Mr Nnaji forged both his degree and NYSC certificates.

The case has also taken a political dimension.

Mr Nnaji was recently reported to have moved quietly from the ruling All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party, where he emerged as governorship candidate of a faction backed by Nyesom Wike ahead of the 2027 elections.

But with the ICPC now armed with a remand warrant, the former minister’s legal troubles have entered a more serious phase.

What began as a damaging certificate scandal has now become a full criminal investigation, with investigators no longer chasing Mr Nnaji from outside the room.

He is now in custody, under court-backed detention, and facing the questions he allegedly avoided for months.