Human rights activist and senior lawyer, Liborous Oshoma, has welcomed the arrest and ongoing questioning of former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over allegations of forgery of a University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) degree certificate and a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate presented to facilitate his screening by the Senate in 2023.

Oshoma also insisted that the Federal Government must recover the salaries and allowances earned by Nnaji while in office, as they were allegedly obtained by the false pretence of genuinely obtaining a degree and NYSC certificates.

In the same vein, the Network of Advocacy for Positive Impact Initiative (NAPII) has cautioned against dragging Nnaji’s arrest into political controversies, as matters of accountability are at the heart of public service.

It is recalled that the ICPC had, in a statement on Monday, admitted to taking the former minister into custody after his arrest by the Department of State Services (DSS) on the orders of a Federal High Court in Abuja following his alleged refusal to honour invitations by the Commission.

Reacting to the development, Oshoma, while appearing on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, rued the delay in bringing Nnaji to book, alleging perennial preferential treatment in favour of the rich and influential.

He said only the arrogance of a typical Nigerian politician would push Nnaji into not only refusing to honour the ICPC’s invitation, but also initially suing the UNN on the grounds that it illegally altered his certificate and disclosed it to a third party, Premium Times.

Oshoma further recalled that Nnaji had petitioned the Minister of Education “to the extent that a 32-member panel was set up and, after the investigation, they indicted him and established that truly the degree certificate was not only forged, but that his NYSC certificate was also forged.”

He called on the Attorney General of the Federation to show interest in the matter to redeem the government’s image, stressing that the delay and the DSS’ failure to properly vet him had caused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the nation some international embarrassment.

“So, if the APC wants to show that they are not a party inhabited by certificate forgers or condoning forgery, this is one of the opportunities to prosecute. We need to see prosecution immediately.

“In addition, if you used all of these certificates to collect an appointment from the Federal Government and all through that time you drew salaries and allowances from office under the pretext that you truly graduated from that university, shouldn’t it be normal and commonsensical that the Federal Government should be asking that you return those monies?

“Another question now is that the Federal Government now has to look at the fact that since he was not forthcoming on an issue as basic as his certificates,” he said.

Oshoma dismissed the claims linking the ex-minister’s arrest to his governorship ambition, insisting that “he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.”

“Whether politics is involved, whether opponents want to latch on to his alleged certificate forgery, is entirely left to him because a man who brought ant-infested wood to his house invited chickens to be his playmates.

“My call to the President is that he should not allow all these powerful people in government to intervene so as to give this man a soft landing because once that happens, it will boomerang on the President,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, addressing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday alongside members of the organisation, the Programme Manager of NAPII, William Smith Bassey, insisted that “allegations of this magnitude cannot and should not be dismissed as ordinary political controversies.”

Concluding, he said, “The allegations strike at the very heart of public trust because forgery is not a mere administrative irregularity; it is a criminal offence that undermines the rule of law, destroys meritocracy, devalues genuine academic achievements, and erodes confidence in public institutions.

“Therefore, the ICPC must be allowed to conduct a thorough, professional, impartial, and evidence-based investigation without political interference, intimidation, or selective application of the law.

“Accountability loses its meaning when justice is selective. The rule of law must prevail over the rule of influence. Integrity must triumph over impunity. Truth must prevail over deception.” (The Sun News)