Group upbeat about ex-FIIRO DG’s prosecution

 Two weeks after a petition was written to the Attorney General of the Federation to demand the prosecution of suspended and disgraced former Acting Director-General of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi,  the Human and Environmental Development Agency (HEDA) has expressed optimism that the ex-FIIRO DG would be prosecuted.

Speaking with The Daily Times in a telephone chat on Monday, Chairman, HEDA, Mr Olanrewaju Suraj, says the AGF has a constitutional responsibility to initiate the prosecution, adding that even if the ICPC would prosecute him, it would still need to get the fiat from the AGF since it is a federal agency. 

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Reacting to the reported botched meeting of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology on the matter after he was indicted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), he said, “ICPC investigated and indicted him. I want to know the basis of any hearing on the matter. What Igwe should have done is to go to court to challenge his suspension.”

Prior to Igwe’s suspension, the former FIIRO DG had failed to produce his certificate more than seventeen years after he claimed he had a doctorate from Universite D’Abomey Calavi, Benin Republic. An investigation by the ICPC on the matter revealed that Igwe did not defend his doctoral thesis, stating that he could not have bagged a PhD without defending his thesis. 

Meanwhile,  things took a dramatic turn in February after defending his thesis on February 13, 2020, and was issued an attestation the letter that he had completed his PhD in spite of his earlier claim that he bagged it since 2001, adding that he had a PhD.

However, sources within FIIRO say the disgraced DG is scheming a comeback. A PhD is a prerequisite for promotion to the positions of Chief Research Officer, Director and Director-General but Igwe had received salaries and got promoted at least three times without the requisite PhD on a false claim, according to the findings of the ICPC. 

 In a petition dated February 25, 2020, to the AGF, HEDA demanded the prosecution of Igwe, noting that his action amounts to obtaining under false pretence. HEDA says it will not hesitate to institute an action before a court of competent jurisdiction to compel the AGF to act.

The petition read in part: “Based on later findings of the ICPC when the case was reopened for investigation, the Commission affirmed it discovered Mr. Chima Igwe was yet to defend his Ph.D. thesis since 2002, that is over 17 years, since he allegedly and claimed to have graduated from the university and cannot be said to have graduated without the defence of his thesis.

“According to the letter from ICPC to the Minister for Science and Technology, the Minister minuted to the Board of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research and then the Governing Board of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, Lagos leading to the eventual removal of Mr Igwe as the acting Director-General of the institute, and the Director of Production, Analytical and Laboratory Management, Dr Agnes Asagbra, was appointed in his stead. Find attached the letter from ICPC.

“The failure of the former Acting Director-General of FIIRO to produce his certificate is as relayed in the provisions of Section 105 of the Criminal Code Act which states that:

“Any person who, being authorised or required by law to give any certificate touching any matter by virtue whereof the rights of any person may be prejudicially affected, gives a certificate which is, to his knowledge, false in any material particular, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years”. 

“Also, the act by Mr Igwe amounts to obtaining under false pretence, as stated in Section 418 of the Criminal Code Act 

“Any representation made by words, writing, or conduct, of a matter of fact, either past or present, which representation is false in fact and which the person making it knows to be false or does not believe to be true, is a false pretence.”

“Being the chief prosecuting officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as established by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) in Section 174 (1(a) states that“The Attorney General of the Federation shall have the power to institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any person before any court of law in Nigeria, other than a court-martial, in respect of any offence created by or under any Act of the National Assembly” and also Section 174 (3) also states that“ In exercising his powers under this section, the Attorney-General of the Federation shall have regard to the public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process”, it stated.