New information gathered by Saharareporters point to the INEC Chairman – Prof. Iwu as a stooge and/or a possible victim of the Abuja power brokers. This is according to information generated through cursory investigation by our team of investigators. Prof. Maurice Iwu, a research scientist, Maryland USA resident, who upon the recommendation of his longtime family friend and colleague UNN, Nsukka, Senator Ugochukwu Uba, got the appointment to the position of INEC Chairman, is believed to have some unpleasant questions to answer - questions the power structure in Abuja may be using against him as blackmail to keep him under control.

According to the public information available on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s website (www.inecnigeria.com), the commission Chairman – Prof. Maurice Iwu, obtained his primary education at Christ the King School Aba, his secondary school at St. Pius X college at Bodo-Ogoni, his professional training at the University of Bradford, England where he received a Master of Pharmacy degree in 1976 and a PhD in 1978.

What appear puzzling is that there is no mention of where and when he obtained his undergraduate degree, a trick made possible by the professional nature of Pharmacy (According to Academic experts students can earn a master’s degree in Pharmacy if they go the long haul). However, new information shows that the reason for omitting the mention of Prof. Maurice Iwu’s undergraduate degree from the INEC website may not be a mistake after all. This became clear as Saharareporters made contact with University of Bradford in the United Kingdom to inquire whether Prof. Maurice Iwu obtained an undergraduate degree from the institution. The University of Bradford, whose reaction to the request appeared suspiciously too cagey, as they repeatedly, insisted that a letter of permission be obtained from Prof. Iwu before they release the requested basic information, when they first released any information at all, it was a rehash of what INEC had on its website. Shortly after they succumbed to the pressure mounted by Saharareporters and spoke through their Senior Press Officer - Oliver Tipper stating via an e-mail that, “He {Prof. Maurice Iwu} was enrolled here in 1975 for the Masters degree in Pharmacy, but we have on our records that he studied Pharmacy in Cameroon during the late 1960s before coming to Bradford”. Further efforts to get the University of Bradford to release the name of the University in Cameroon that issued Professor Iwu with undergraduate degree met legal resistance from Bradford; they instead cited a 1998 British Law that bars universities from disclosing private information.

Perplexed by the information given by University of Bradford which indicate that Prof. Iwu graduated with a degree in pharmacy in the late 1960s which places his age at about 19 years old at the time of graduation, Saharareporters approached the Spokesperson for INEC – Pastor Segun Adeogun and made the request for an interview from Prof. Iwu’s plus his official curriculum vitae but Prof. Iwu did not respond to the requests and the INEC spokesperson, Pastor Segun Adeogun in turn directed us to the INEC website for Prof. Iwu’ curriculum vitae, when we reminded him that the vital information about his undergrad degree was missing, he advised us to make do with the “INEC summary”. After repeated appeals for the curriculum vitae, it became apparent that the duo of Prof. Maurice Iwu and Pastor Segun Adeogun maybe resisting due to a particular reason. However in a last pitch effort by our investigators, Pastor Segun Adeogun finally buckled and told our investigators that the official INEC records show that the Prof. Maurice Iwu obtained his undergraduate degree, Master degree and PhD degree from University of Bradford between 1972 and 1978. That not withstanding, the resistance by Pastor Adeogun remained suspicious.

Interestingly, Saharareporters was able to unearth the reason for the resistance. And it points to the parallel background of Prof. Maurice Iwu that does not mesh with his professional claims. Information gathered on Prof. Iwu’s background placed Prof. Iwu at Biafra Holy Rosary School of Pharmacy, Ummuna Orlu from 1968-1969 where he dropped out in Class 4 – coinciding with the same period he indicated to the University of Bradford to have graduated from a University in Cameroon. Following his stint at the school of pharmacy, he undertook a course in Ivory Coast for ‘Dispensing Pharmacy Technician in Compounding’, under the Biafran-Ivory Coast training scholarships for Biafrans. The course was for two months. Following the end of the Biafran war, he landed a job as a dispensing chemist at a chemist in Enugu at 35 Zik Avenue, Uwani- Enugu opposite Leventis stores. He held this job between 1970 and 1973. While working at the Chemist as a dispenser, he told most of his patients he was a "doctor".

Supplementing the parallel career that appears contradictory to Prof Iwu’s claims, sources close to him told Saharareporters that Prof. Maurice Iwu forged his undergraduate degree to gain entry into University of Bradford in the UK. According to the sources, Maurice took his late brother’s certificate Christopher Iwu and forged it to enable him enter the university. Christopher Iwu who was a Biafran official born in the forties, died during the civil war -He attended St. Patrick’s college in Calabar, Nigeria.

For this reason, questions remain for Prof. Maurice Iwu to answer regarding his claims to have attended undergraduate school in Cameroon. Since BRADFORD spokesperson says Iwu came with a ‘Pharmacy degree’ from Cameroon, then, was Prof. Maurice Iwu holding a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy at the age of 19 or less since his INEC profile puts his date of birth at April 21st, 1950? Was he in Cameroon studying pharmacy while at the same time dispensing drugs in Enugu? Could that explain why his students at Nsukka complained regularly that Prof. Maurice Iwu was a half-baked Professor? Also, could it be why Prof. Maurice Iwu’s research has virtually been on herbal medicine?

Also, Saharareporters spoke to former colleagues of Professor Iwu regarding his much talked about ‘activist side’, and according to an Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) activist that knows Prof. Maurice Iwu quite well, “Prof. Iwu was a traitor who betrayed them under the military regime of Babangida”. One of the students he betrayed at Nsukka during the same military regime of Babangida was one Emma Ezeazu. His saboteur-like behavior towards Emma Ezeazu resulted in the expulsion of Mr. Ezeazu.

Prior to Prof. Maurice Iwu’s relocation to Nigeria to assume the post of INEC Chairman, along with having worked extensively in the Maryland area of United States of America as an expert in the area of herbal medicines, he had owned and operated a research center called Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme. Saharareporters made several attempts to make contact with Prof. Maurice Iwu’s colleagues but to no avail. Telephone calls placed to the telephone number of his Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme in Maryland indicated that it had been changed to a Washington DC number which is now being handled by an answering service - suggesting that the Business has either closed down or is being used as a ‘shell’ office to execute other activities as Bioresource’s website still listed offices in Guinea, UK, Cameroon and Enugu (Nigeria). We also contacted the Division of Experimental Therapeutics at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute where Professor Iwu worked was a senior research associate according to the information on the INEC’s website but got the voicemail of one Col. (Dr.) Allen Magill and we left a message requesting for Prof. Iwu’s curriculum vitae but Col. (Dr.) Allen Magill did not return our phone calls. Also, an e-mail was sent to the Public Affairs officer of Walter Reed Army Research Institute requesting for Prof. Iwu’s curriculum vitae but did not receive a reply at press time. However, Saharareporters was able to contact one person who worked with Professor Iwu at Walter Reed AIR who goes by the name Dr. Christopher Okunji. Dr. Okunji who is currently a contractor at the US National Institute of Health in talking briefly with our investigators indicated that he could not speak on his professional relationship with Prof. Maurice Iwu citing workplace media gag. What was striking about Dr. Okunji was his reaction to the mere mention of Prof. Iwu’s name in conjunction to his professional career.

However, with the call by nearly 40 Nigerian Senators on the afternoon of January 17, 2007 for the resignation of the INEC Chairman, many eyebrows have begun to be raised in wonderment as to what might be brewing within the corridors of power in Abuja and the Obasanjo electoral machinery.

Informed players within the corridors of influence in Abuja believe that what appears to be a brewing tussle between the two entities fits a pattern that has been put in place for effective manipulation mechanism to ensure that the players within INEC and the Police remain subjects and puppets of the power brokers in Abuja, specifically the Peoples Democratic Party. This is achieved through the placement of weak and compromised personalities in sensitive positions within the INEC, the Police and OTHER AGENCIES OVERSEEING the 2007 elections to enable for easy manipulation.

As Saharareporters has also discovered, the current INEC Secretary Alhaji Abubakar B. Jauro is scheduled to retire in December 2006, even if we were to go by what is publicly published by INEC which states that Alhaji Jauro was born in January of 1947 which makes him due for retirement in January 2007 because the mandatory retirement for civil servants is 60. However the information reaching Saharareporters indicates that the President Obasanjo and his cronies in the PDP have decided not publicly announce the retirement until after the electioneering period and when Saharareporters confronted the INEC Spokesperson Pastor Segun Adeogun he took a deep sigh and told us to contact the Head of the Civil Service. All efforts to reach the head of service – Alhaji Yayala Ahmed failed. In the same manner, with which President Obasanjo’s extended the retirement of the Inspector General of Police - Mr. Sunday Ehindero, he extended the Commissioner of Police in Abuja FCT – Lawrence Alobi. The extended retirement of Mr. Sunday Ehindero and Lawrence Alobi is believed to have its reasons wrapped in the upcoming elections and the role the police is expected to play in what many experts fear as the PDP grand plan to retain power in 2007 at all cost.

So the combination of a compromised INEC Chairman with a heavily tainted educational background, a compromised INEC Secretary pleading for extension of retirement and a completely compromised Inspector General of Police who already had his retirement extended, automatically lends to the potent question of this season. And that is, whether the President wants to leave power? Another question worthy of answers is whether the Office of the President is in the know of Prof. Maurice Iwu’s educational background and then uses it to keep him controlled? Whether the call by the 40 Senators for Prof. Maurice Iwu to resign concerns his educational background? Or, whether it concerns the soiled relationship between Senator Ugochukwu Uba and chris uba on one hand and his brother ‘Dr’ Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba? Or, whether it has to do with the influx of petitions to the INEC office of which the folks in the power structure of PDP believe that some of the prime candidates may face disqualification by an untainted INEC chair?

The latest development coming out of Abuja may shed some light to the dubiousness surrounding the ongoing activities in and around INEC and the power structure in Abuja. According to updates received by Saharareporters, Mr. Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba and Florence Ita Giwa, in attempts to quell the brewing brouhaha in the house of the National Assembly, were dispatched to ‘pacify’ the senators who had previously passed a vote of no confidence on Prof. Maurice Iwu just a day before their visit. The duo of Uba and Ita Giwa were said to have visited some of the key Senators with heavy wads of cash to offer them as bribes. The next day, following their visit, Prof. Iwu was suddenly ‘pardoned’ by the Senate and given a clean bill of health complete with VOTE OF CONFIDENCE at their next sitting.

Interesting, but a link to the source page would be much appreciated. Thanks!

It is an interesting piece, and Prof. Iwu should answer some questions about his academic qualifications if it happens to be true. In general though, pharmacy is one of those rare fields that doesn't always require an undergraduate degree to earn graduate qualifications. Although I like the piece, it has too much of the character assasination tone that many of the Saharareporters articles have. Even if objectivity is a fiction, reporters should try to maintain it instead of being too obvious with their bias. The story seems to speak for itself--Maurice Iwu possibly forged an undergraduate degree. Barring the release of contrary information (i.e. his academic record may be lost because of the civil war etc.), we all can see that there's something missing from his record. But the article should also be balanced enough to report that pharmacists do not need to earn an undergraduate degree before working professionally. From what I understand, pharmacy has a broad range of entry opportunities--Nairaland pharmacists, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. There's no need to editorialize beyond that.

I have also read the report, it is one of those normal products of Atiku's Army of Calumny (AC).
If you think of the timing of the report and Omoyele Sowore's claim as the motivation behind the report you will understand the motive of the report. Saharareporters is turning into propaganda arm of Atiku.

What is more disturbing is the fact that Nigerians and expecially the people of the south-east had to be reminded an ugly part of our nations history in their quest to get Prof Iwu down and pursue Atiku's ambition at all cost.
During the civil war and beyond a lot of young men suffered the same faith as Iwu and will surely have complications in their career at those times, young men surely will want to have a way to move on after such a horrible war. Trying to blackmail Iwu with a past that came about as a result of the misfortunes of this nation is cheap propaganda and all those behind it should be ashamed of themselves.

This is about the 4th or 5th offensive from the Atiku camp against Iwu without him trying to respond or retaliate. Even at all their propaganda all the members of AC came out testifying that the verification excersize was not intended to victimize anybody so why does Atiku want Iwu out at all cost?/

Prof. Maurice Iwu is such a strong character and will not be bullied but you know what?? 
The tide will turn on Atiku.

http://saharareporters.com/dn001.php?dnid=250

you are right TerraCotta

I have seen better writers on nairaland, the reporter is probably an amateur, very important story but whack delivery

This report is what Nuhu Ribadu describes as corruption fighting back justice. Omoyele sowore and his colleagues don't have facts all they can show if asked to present evidence of there research are e-mails and gossips.

I hope Prof Maurice Iwu will be his traditional self and not give credence to this rumour by reacting to it. No serious person will react to gossips posted on media. Sahara reporters should go and get the list of all those who graduated from Bradford the particular year Maurice Iwu claims to have graduated to prove to us his name is not there if they are to be taken seriously.

THIS IS A SCHOOL BOY REPORT PRESENTING ELECTRONIC MAILS AND ORAL GOSSIPS AS EVIDENCE. I CAN EVEN OPEN AN E-MAIL RIGHT NOW IN OMOYELE SOWORE'S NAME AND SEND AN E-MAIL ON HIS BEHALF

This report makes no sense whatsoever. Who care if he never got an undergraduate degree?. . .A degree after all is supposed to be indicative of knowledge, if his work during the war enabled him to gain knowledge equivalent to one with a BSc. degree then so be it. In fact I'm now amazed by the man's intelligence, how did he manage to get an MSc and a PhD with no undergraduate degree?. . .He must be extremely intelligent and must have learnt alot being an apprentice during the war.

We need more people who know than those who own paper degrees.

(According to Academic experts students can earn a master’s degree in Pharmacy if they go the long haul).

please read this again, its an investigative writeup,the facts are laid bare here, if anyone of you can do a better job than omoyele by all means feel free. sites like his have redeeming value,by keeping our leaders on their toe.I have no reason to doubt Iwu qualification, but this just bug my curiosity

Sahara reporters will end up being a place for junk jounalism if they continue with the present style.

Tomorrow now they will claim that the FG has ordered their server to be brought down, seeking cheap publicity.