The immediate past Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, was arrested on Wednesday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on arrival from Enugu via a chartered flight.

Authoritative sources at the airport confirmed the arrest to PREMIUM TIMES, saying Mr Nnaji would be handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for interrogation.

The reported arrest comes weeks after the Federal High Court reportedly granted the ICPC permission to arrest and investigate Nnaji over the allegations.

The court also authorised the anti-graft agency to declare him wanted through newspapers, social media platforms and other media channels after the commission alleged that he repeatedly failed to honour invitations for questioning.

According to the ICPC, its application to the court followed Nnaji’s alleged refusal to appear before investigators despite several invitations relating to the forgery allegations.

The case stems from a two-year investigation published by Premium Times in October last year, which alleged that Nnaji submitted forged University of Nigeria degree and National Youth Service Corps certificates during his ministerial screening and confirmation process in 2023.

The report alleged that the documents were presented to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigerian Senate, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the State Security Service.

According to the publication, Nnaji later acknowledged that the University of Nigeria did not issue him the degree certificate in question, a development the newspaper said corroborated its investigation.Newspapers

The former minister had previously denied the existence of the court order authorising his arrest, dismissing the publication as a “media trial.”

However, on June 18, he reportedly filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn the arrest order.

As of the time of filing this report, the ICPC had not issued an official statement confirming the reported arrest, while Nnaji’s legal team had yet to publicly respond to the latest development.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, restored the bail it had earlier granted to activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore.

Sowore is facing a two-count cybercrime charge filed against him by the Department of State Services (DSS) for calling President Bola Tinubu a “criminal” in a social media post.

Trial Justice Muhammed Umar, who had earlier granted the defendant bail on self-recognisance, on June 16 revoked the bail and issued a warrant for his arrest.

The order came after Sowore failed to appear before the court for the continuation of his trial, even though he wrote a letter explaining his absence and requesting a new date.

When proceedings resumed in the case on June 22, Justice Umar ordered the remand of the defendant in Kuje prison.

Dissatisfied with the actions the court took against him, Sowore—whose legal team had initially withdrawn from the case over alleged bias by the judge—secured a new lawyer, who promptly filed a motion to restore his bail and quash the arrest warrant.

When the case came up on Tuesday, Justice Umar held that he was minded to admit the defendant to bail.

However, the court listed some conditions that had to be met before he would be released from prison custody.

Aside from granting him bail to the tune of N200 million, the court held that the defendant must produce two sureties in like sum.

The court also ordered the defendant to surrender his international passport.

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Sowore, in the application he anchored on Sections 35(4), 36(1), and 66 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as Sections 169 and 352 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, insisted that the orders the court made against him were unjust and unwarranted.

The defendant had, on December 2, 2025, pleaded not guilty to the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, filed against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The charges allege offences under Sections 24(1)(b) and 24(2)(a), (b), and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024.

The offending posts, made on August 25, 2025, were in response to President Tinubu’s claim, made in Brazil, that his administration had ended corruption in Nigeria.

Angered by the posts, the DSS demanded that X Inc. (formerly Twitter) and Meta Platforms Inc. ban Sowore’s accounts and remove the posts.

The security agency also wrote to Sowore, asking him to delete the posts from all platforms.

Non-compliance with the request led to the charges.

The prosecution claims the defamatory posts were intended to cause a breakdown of law and order and to tarnish the president’s reputation.

Exhibits include printouts of the posts and the DSS letters.

X Inc. and Meta were initially co-defendants but were delisted in the amended charge.

Several hours of torrential rains Tuesday triggered severe flooding in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos this week, as the country’s weather agency warned of more rains in the coming days.

Heavy rains sweep Nigeria between May and November, often resulting in dangerous floods where poor infrastructure and inadequate drainage often worsen the impact across Africa’s most populous country.

No casualties have been reported as of Tuesday.

Flooding is common in many parts of the crowded city including in highbrow districts such as Lekki and Victoria Island where AFP reporters saw flooded streets.

Videos on social media showed inundated homes and businesses as well as submerged major roads and cars.

A viral social media video also showed residents paddling wooden canoes through floodwaters in the upscale Lekki district.

A resident of Okota area of Lagos told AFP that people used canoes to evacuate their flooded homes.

“The rain has taken over my house,” 54-year-old trader Rukayat Saidu in Amukoko, another district of Lagos told AFP. “All my appliances have been destroyed.”

The coastal city of more than 20 million people has long grappled with clogged waterways, fuelled by indiscriminate waste disposal, weak government waste management and urbanisation.