Mr Nnaji’s appeal came exactly five days after he denied the existence of any order of arrest against him.
A former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, has finally filed an appeal against a court ruling which ordered his arrest over certificate forgery.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier exclusively reported in mid-June that 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 scandal.
The court ruling followed an ex parte motion filed by the ICPC in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1160/2026.
Apart from the arrest order, the court, in its ruling, also granted an order allowing the ICPC to declare Mr Nnaji wanted in any national newspaper, social media platforms or other medium.
The anti-graft agency had told the court that the ex parte motion was in response to Mr Nnaji’s failure to honour invitations which it extended to him for “investigative activities” over certificate forgery.
The ICPC’s invitation of Mr Nnaji followed a painstaking two-year investigation published by PREMIUM TIMES in October last year, which revealed that the then-minister forged his UNN degree and NYSC certificates, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial confirmation in 2023.
Mr Nnaji filed the appeal against his arrest order before the Court of Appeal Abuja on 18 June, according to a notice of appeal exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.
The former minister’s appeal came exactly five days after he denied the existence of such court order against him. He described this newspaper’s report as a media “media trial.”
“We wish to state unequivocally that Chief Nnaji is not in hiding and has never evaded any law enforcement agency.
“We further wish to make it abundantly 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 whatsoever from the ICPC,” Mr Nnaji said in a statement on 13 June by his spokesperson, Robert Ngwu.
“No such (court) process has been served at his Abuja or Enugu residences, both of which have been publicly known for decades.”
Also, Mr Nnaji had earlier claimed that he was neither invited nor under investigation by the ICPC.
However, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported on Wednesday that a document and communications between him and the ICPC showed that the politician repeatedly rebuffed ICPC invitations and failed to show up for scheduled interview sessions with the anti-graft agency regarding his forgery scandal.
Mr Nnaji filed the appeal through Adoga Moses, a litigation clerk in the law firm of the former minister’s lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
According to the notice of appeal, Mr Nnaji expressed his dissatisfaction with the “entire orders” granted by the federal high court.
The former minister highlighted four grounds for the appeal against the court order.
In his first ground, he argued that the federal high court “erred in law” by issuing the orders without having the jurisdiction to do so.
Under the second ground, the politician contended that the lower court failed to comply with provision of Section 84 of the Evidence Act (2011) by admitting a computer generated evidence against him upon which it issued the orders.
Section 84 (2) of the Act provides that a statement contained in a document produced by a computer is admissible as evidence in court if, among other conditions, the computer was operating properly when the record was produced or any malfunction did not affect the accuracy of the record.
Section 84(4) of the Act further requires a certificate of compliance, signed by a responsible person, identifying the electronic record and explaining how it was produced.
According to the provision, the certificate of compliance is usually tendered in court alongside any electronic evidence presented.
PREMIUM TIMES understands that Mr Nnaji was referring to the invitation letter which the ICPC forwarded to him via his WhatsApp numbers, email address and text messages.
The ICPC had presented as evidence to the court screenshots of WhatsApp chats and email showing that the anti-graft agency forwarded the invitation letter to the former minister which he reportedly ignored.
In his fourth ground, Mr Nnaji argued that the lower court “erred in law and came to a wrong decision when it relied on unsubstantiated facts” before it in making the ex parte 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.
“There was nothing before the lower court, showing a reply to any of the messages/texts purportedly sent to the numbers and email address contained therein,” he argued.
Under the fourth ground, Mr Nnaji further contended that “the lower court erred in law and came to a wrong decision” when it acted on the ICPC’s alleged misrepresentation of facts by issuing the orders against him.
The former minister further argued that the court relied on the ICPC’s deposition that he received the invitation letter from the anti-graft agency on the basis of his reply to the WhatsApp message.
“Misrepresentation of facts is one of the grounds upon which an ex-parte order could be set aside,” he stated.
Mr Nnaji then asked the Court of Appeal to grant an order vacating the order of the federal high court and then strike out the ICPC’s suit filed before the lower court.
