Nigeria: Alleged PhD Fraud - How We Started Investigating Ex-Fiiro Boss - ICPC

By Oladayo Jonathan

The ex-FIIRO boss faces a three-count charge of giving a document with false information, using his office to proffer unfair advantage and making false statements to a public officer.

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) says it received three petitions calling for the investigation of Chima Igwe, the ex-Director-General of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO).

An Investigator with the ICPC, Vera Esidene, said this on Monday while testifying at an Ikeja Special Offences Court as the first prosecution witness during the trial of Mr Igwe over alleged certificate fraud.

While being led in evidence by a member of the ICPC prosecuting team, Kehinde Adetoye, Mrs Esidene said that in 2019, three petitions were written against the embattled Mr Igwe calling for the investigation of his Ph.D. certificate.

"The first was titled, 'Forged Ph.D. Certificate by Chima Igwe', the second was titled, 'Call to Probe the Ph.D. Certificate', and the third petition was titled, 'Demand for Immediate Probe and Request for the Ph.D. Certificate'," she said.

The ICPC investigator said that upon receiving the petitions, the commission assigned the case to her team, which immediately swung into action.

"Part of our strategies was to write letters to the defendant and to FIIRO and invite some of the staff members.

"We also wrote letters requesting some documents from the staff, precisely the defendant's letter of approval to enable him to seek for his Ph.D.

"We requested for the letter he submitted after he claimed to have completed the programme. We also requested for his promotion letter and an extract of the board meeting minutes held at FIIRO," Mrs Esidene said.

During her testimony, Mr Adetoye requested that the three petitions that were written against Mr Igwe be tendered into evidence.

Defence counsel, Victor Opara, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, however, objected to the submission of the prosecutor.

Mr Opara said the objection was on the grounds that the copies of the three documents (petitions) were not original copies and as a result, fell short of the requirements of Section 86 of the Evidence Act.

"Where the original is not presented, a reason must be given to your lordship. There is no foundation as to where the original is.

"The makers of this document were not brought and the witness is not the maker. I refer your lordship to Section 83(1)(b) of the Evidence Act. As a result, this document remains 'documentary hearsay'," he said.

Responding, the lead prosecutor of the ICPC team, Henry Emore, said that the copies of petitions were public documents.

"The documents are from private citizens but were addressed to the Chairman, ICPC. Immediately these documents were received by the ICPC, they became public documents.

"The witness has presented the documents in their proper form and we have met all requirements for certification of the documents under Section 104 of the Evidence Act," he said.

Justice Sherifat Solebo, in a ruling, admitted the petitions into evidence noting that there was no need to bring the authors of the petitions to court for the petitions to be admissible as evidence.

"The petitions are fundamental to this trial. The Certified True Copies of any public document is admissible in evidence not the original.

"There is nothing proscribing the admissibility of these three documents. I hereby admit them as Exhibits A1, A2 and A3," Solebo said.

The case was adjourned until February 22 for a continuation of trial.

Charges

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Igwe faces a three-count charge of giving a document with false information, using office to proffer unfair advantage and making false statements to a public officer.

The ICPC alleged that Mr Igwe, while being a public officer with FIIRO, knowingly gave to the organisation, with intent to deceive, an attestation letter signifying the completion of a Ph.D. degree programme from the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Republic of Benin.

The offences contravene Sections 17(1)(c), 19 and 25(1)(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act.

He was appointed the acting DG of the institute on May 13, 2019, and sacked in February 2020 after failing to present his PhD certificate more than 17 years after claiming to have bagged the degree, according to Punch newspaper.

He received several promotions based on the purported certificate. His alleged offence came into the limelight when his colleagues petitioned the ICPC.

According to information on the institute's website, the 57-year-old joined as a Research Officer 1 and rose through the ranks to become the Director of Chemical Fibre and Environmental Technology Department in June 2010.

This article originally appeared on Premium Times

Photo: Premium Times