It is no longer news that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Monday, arraigned a former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, on six-count charge bothering on forgery, money laundering, and abuse of office.

In the first count, the ICPC alleged that Chief Nnaji received N29.58 million through his bank account as salary and allowances while serving as Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, when he “reasonably ought to have known” that the money formed part of the proceeds of corruption and fraud. The ICPC’s said the act contravened the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The second count accused him of using his office as minister to “confer corrupt advantage” on himself, contrary to the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act.

In the third count, the Commission alleged that Nnaji knowingly presented a false National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate, numbered A231309, to the federal government in support of his ministerial appointment, “with intent to mislead” the government.

The fourth count alleged that he also presented a purported UNN degree certificate in Microbiology/Biochemistry, numbered 004501, to the government in August 2023, knowing it to be false.

In the fifth count, the ICPC alleged that Chief Nnaji knowingly produced the purported NYSC certificate around May 1986 and used it as a genuine document, contrary to the Penal Code’s provisions.

The sixth count alleged that Chief Nnaji knowingly produced a purported UNN degree certificate in Microbiology/Biochemistry, bearing certificate number 004501, around July 1985 and used it as a genuine document, contrary to the Penal Code.

Ministerial appointment

Meanwhile, when Uche Nnaji appeared before the Nigerian Senate on August 1, 2023 for ministerial screening, there was no inkling that his credentials and curriculum vitae, a 10-page document, which he submitted to the upper legislative chamber, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) would become a source of controversy that would send him to the dock.

The then ministerial nominee had just participated in the governorship election of that year under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in which he emerged a distant fourth with 14,575 votes behind the eventual winner, Peter Mbah, the then-candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 160, 895 votes.

When, during the sreening, he, by his own mouth, told senators that he obtained a Microbiology/Biochemistry degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) from where he said he graduated in July 1985. He further claimed that he did his one-year mandatory National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme in Jos in 1986.

At the end of the 21-minute screening exercise, which lasted from 4:41pm to 5:02pm, Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio and his colleagues told him to “take a bow and go.” By August 22, 2023, he was inaugurated alongside other ministerial.

Before all this, however, People’s Gazette, an online platform, had tried to probe into Nnaji’s qualifications, but met a roadblock at the university. But unbeknown to Nnaji and Nigerians, Premium Times, an online newspaper, was quietly digging into his credentials. The publishing of the investigation in October 2025 threw up a huge scandal.

According to the online newspaper’s investigation, UNN authorities confirmed that Chief Nnaji was admitted in 1981, but said that he did not complete his studies, as he did not pass Virology, with course code MCB 431AB. Contrary to Chief Nnaji’s claims of graduating in 1985, his handwritten letter to the Registrar Exams dated January 3, 1986, but with the university’s acknowledgement of receipt stamp dated January 7, 1986, showed that he was still applying to re-sit the Virology examination in 1986. The report wondered how Nnaji could have graduated in 1985 whereas he was still applying for a re-sit in 1986.

Second, the investigation also found something fishy about his NYSC discharge certificate numbered A231309. Whereas the NYSC certificate bears May 15 1986, the signature on it is that of Animashaun Braimoh, an army colonel, who served as the fifth CEO of the NYSC between January 1988 and December 1990. It was difficult to comprehend how Braimoh could have signed a certificate on 15 May 1986, eighteen clear months before his appointment, since Colonel Edet Akpan was the head of the NYSC between January 1984 and December 1987, which clearly falls within the period Nnaji claimed to have served.

Again, Chief Nnaji’s NYSC certificate indicated that he served in Plateau State between 16 April 1985 and 15 May 1986. But the online newspaper contended that corps members statutorily serve for 12 months, not 13 as his discharge certificate indicates.

Another red flag was that while his NYSC certificate showed that he began his youth service on April 16 1985, his degree certificate showed that he purportedly graduated in July of that year. Normally, no one begins service until he or she has been graduated by his institution of study and the name forwarded to the NYSC.

Third, while Chief Nnaji claimed that the NYSC issued him a certificate number A231309 in 1986, the newspaper said its investigation showed that the claim was false because the practice of adding alphabets to certificate numbers for national service did not begin until the 1990s.

Fourth, Premium Times said that while the former minister presented the NYSC certificate that was signed by a “National Director” in 1986, its findings showed that from the inception of the NYSC and at least until the early 1990s, the head of the agency was known as “Director.”

Some years in the 1990s, the CEO of the corps became known as “National Director” and later as “Director General,” a designation still in use to date.

Fifth, it revealed that besides other discrepancies, Chief Nnaji’s purported UNN degree certificate bears yet another red flag of probable forgery, as his first name on was misspelt as “Geoffery” instead of “Geoffrey.”

Curiously, whereas he submitted his purported UNN degree certificate to the Senate, when the alleged forgery scandal broke, Nnaji, confirmed via a court filing that UNN was yet to issue him with any certificate since graduation.

This led many to ask, “If UNN had not given him his certificate, who then issued the certificate Nnaji submitted to the Senate and others?”

Meanwhile, adding to his trouble is that both UNN and NYSC authorities had separately disowned the certificates, which Chief Nnaji submitted to the Senate, DSS and Office of the SGF to support his ministerial appointment.

The separate responses from the institutions followed a Freedom of Information Request submitted by Premium Times in which the newspaper, in the course of the investigation, sought their confirmation of the purported certificates in possession of the former minister.

On October 7, 2025, exactly three days after the newspaper published the investigation, Nnaji resigned from his position as minister. While he claimed that his resignation was not an admission of guilty, Presidency sources allege that he merely dressed it as resignation.

But civil society organizations (CSOs), lawyers and human rights groups had consistently called for his prosecution, insisting that resignation alone was not good enough.

Nnaji was arrested on Monday, July 1, 2026 following a warrant of arrest it obtained after Nnaji spurned several ICPC’s invitations for questioning.

He was finally arraigned last Monday before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja. He, however, pleaded not guilty to all the six charges.

“The defendant has pleaded not guilty to all six counts. We have witnesses in court and are ready to proceed with trial,” ICPC’s lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, told the court.

However, Chief Nnaji’s lawyer, James Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the court that the defense was not ready to proceed because it had a pending bail application before the court. Curiously, ICPC did not oppose the application.

Justice Abdulmalik thereafter granted him bail in the sum of N20 million with one surety, who must be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 15 with evidence of salary payment for at least three months. The judge further ordered Nnaji to submit his passport to the court’s registry after verification.

The case was adjourned until September 21 for trial

Although several CSOs and activists such as the coalition of CSOs under the leadership of Global Gender Safety and Moral Development (GGSMD), have expressed outrage over ICPC’s counsel’s failure to oppose Nnaji’s bail and decried what they described as his light bail conditions despite his initial refusal to honour ICPC’s invitation, they however commended the ICPC for finally taking the bull by the horn after “a long dilly-darling on the matter” by government.

The CSOs also insist that only an expedited trial could save Nigeria of further international embarrassment over the matter.

As it stands, Nigerians maintain that the ball is in the court of the court. (Saturday Vanguard)

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