The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students in Benin Republic, Ugochukwu Favour, has urged authorities to apprehend the journalist, Umar Audu, who conducted an undercover investigation to reveal corruption within the certification process in the country.
In an interview on the Sunrise Daily program on Channels TV on Thursday, Favour criticized the reporter for having his passport stamped and acquiring certificates without personal presence.
“Your passport was stamped while you were not available there. Now, and that aside, this guy served in 2019. And he still served again in 2023,” he said.
Favour asserted that the journalist’s undercover activities implicated the government and cast doubt on the credibility of institutions such as the Immigration and National Youth Service Corps.
“He has to be arrested. This guy needs to be arrested because, I know, he’s a reporter who is trying to clear out some things, but on that note, you are trying to implicate some persons now because, in a sense, you’re trying to implicate the government, the NYSC and the immigration,” he said.
When asked by the interviewer if the reporter’s efforts exposed loopholes that should be addressed, the NANS president said, “I’m not doubting that, but then, since this is out already, I want to urge the government to look into it and take the necessary steps as fast as possible,” he responded.
Naija News recalls that the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Musa Adamu Aliyu, had invited the reporter who exposed the alleged degree certificate fraud in some neighbouring countries to a meeting at the agency’s headquarters.
The reporter’s investigation into Ecole Supérieure de Gestion et de Technologies, ESGT, in Cotonou, revealed a concerning situation where degrees are allegedly awarded in as little as six weeks, bypassing standard academic procedures like application, registration, coursework, and examinations.
In a statement signed by the ICPC Director of Press, Azuka Ogugua, the anti-graft agency said that the reporter’s invitation was to discuss the story published on December 30 on the alleged corrupt practices at a Cotonou university.
