Uche Nnaji Appeals Court Order for Arrest Over Forgery

A former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, has filed an appeal against a court order for his arrest over certificate forgery.

In mid-June, a federal high court in Abuja ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to arrest Mr Nnaji for investigation into his certificate forgery case. This information was reported exclusively by PREMIUM TIMES.

The court issued the arrest order after the ICPC filed an ex parte motion in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1160/2026. The court also allowed the ICPC to declare Mr Nnaji wanted in any national newspaper, social media, or other media.

The anti-graft agency said the ex parte motion was due to Mr Nnaji’s failure to respond to invitations for “investigative activities” related to the certificate forgery.

The ICPC's invitation followed a two-year investigation by PREMIUM TIMES in October last year. This investigation revealed that the former minister forged his University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023.

Appeal After Denials

Mr Nnaji filed the appeal against the arrest order on 18 June at the Court of Appeal Abuja, according to a notice of appeal obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

His appeal came just five days after he denied that any court order existed against him. He called the newspaper’s report a media “trial.”

“We wish to state clearly that Chief Nnaji is not in hiding and has never avoided any law enforcement agency.

“We further wish to make it clear that neither Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji nor his legal team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, has received any invitation, summons, warrant, or correspondence from the ICPC,” Mr Nnaji said in a statement on 13 June by his spokesperson, Robert Ngwu.

He added, “No such process has been served at his Abuja or Enugu residences, both of which have been publicly known for decades.”

Earlier, Mr Nnaji claimed that he was neither invited nor under investigation by the ICPC. However, PREMIUM TIMES reported that documents and communications showed that he ignored multiple invitations from the ICPC and failed to attend scheduled interviews regarding his forgery case.

Grounds for the Appeal

Mr Nnaji filed the appeal with help from Adoga Moses, a litigation clerk in the law firm of his lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

In the notice of appeal, Mr Nnaji expressed his dissatisfaction with the “entire orders” granted by the federal high court.

He listed four grounds for the appeal against the court order. In the first ground, he argued that the federal high court “erred in law” by issuing the orders without having the jurisdiction to do so.

In the second ground, he claimed that the lower court failed to follow Section 84 of the Evidence Act (2011) by admitting computer-generated evidence without proper verification.

This section states that a statement in a document produced by a computer is admissible if the computer was working correctly when the record was made. It also requires a certificate of compliance signed by a responsible person.

Mr Nnaji was referring to the ICPC's invitation letter sent to him via WhatsApp, email, and text messages. The ICPC submitted screenshots of these communications as evidence, showing that he ignored the invitations.

In his fourth ground, Mr Nnaji argued that the court “erred in law” by relying on unproven facts when issuing the orders.

“There was nothing before the lower court, establishing that the telephone numbers and email addresses to which the referenced messages/texts were purportedly directed, belonged to the appellant,” he said.

He further contended that the court acted on the ICPC’s alleged misrepresentation of facts by issuing the orders against him.

Requests to the Court

Mr Nnaji then asked the Court of Appeal to cancel the federal high court's order and dismiss the ICPC's suit.

In his motion filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, he requested an order to stop the execution of the arrest order against him.

He also sought an injunction to prevent the federal government or the ICPC from carrying out the arrest order.

Mr Nnaji pleaded for an order to pause the arrest order until his appeal is heard and decided. He stated that executing the arrest order would keep him out of circulation and stop him from campaigning for the elections.

He argued that not granting his request would harm not just him but also the Nigerian democratic process, which is built on the freedom to participate and choose.

Background

In October 2023, PREMIUM TIMES began looking into Mr Nnaji’s academic records. He had submitted a degree and NYSC certificates to President Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023.

He claimed to have graduated from UNN in 1985. Concerned about the investigation, Mr Nnaji filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop UNN and its vice-chancellor, Simon Ortuanya, from releasing his academic records.

His legal team recently sought an out-of-court settlement. Before he could get a court injunction, Mr Ortuanya confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Nnaji had forged his UNN degree certificate.

The UNN registrar later supported Mr Ortuanya’s statement, confirming that while Mr Nnaji was admitted in 1981, he neither graduated nor received any certificate.

The NYSC also disowned the discharge certificate that Mr Nnaji had. He resigned from his ministerial position three days after PREMIUM TIMES published the investigation revealing how he forged his degree and NYSC certificates.