Roland Otaru, SAN
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has called on the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Council of Legal Education (CLE) to probe the professorship and the Ph.D. claims as well as the academic trajectory, publications, teaching records by the Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Roland Otaru, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
The PDP similarly called on the Edo State House of Assembly “to redeem its battered dignity” by constituting an independent, competent and credible investigative committee to investigate the issues and all related circumstances.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that the PDP made the calls on the strength of a petition against the attorney general by some law students at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, alleging that he may have been conferred with the title of Professor of Law “in circumstances that point unmistakably to academic fraud”.
The party therefore charged the NUC and CLE to conduct external verification and publish their findings to Nigerians.
Otaru however denied the allegations, insisting that the professorship was duly conferred on him by the Senate of the university. it could be a deliberate attempt to smear his rising profile as he insisted that he was duly appointed as a Professor by the Senate of the University. “It is very funny. The Senator of the university conferred it on me, I have a letter to that effect and on that day, I was not the only one, we were about four, it was an approval from the Senate of the University and I delivered the lecture on that day, 9th of December 2024. “I am a PhD holder, I have two Masters Degrees and I have up to five or six fellowships. I have been SAN working for the past 20 years so what are they talking about? Maybe somebody there engineered it because of my rising profile.
In a statement on Monday titled “EDO AT A MORAL CROSSROADS: ALLEGATIONS OF ACADEMIC FRAUD AGAINST THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL DEMAND IMMEDIATE, PUBLIC AND CREDIBLE INVESTIGATION”, the PDP tasked Governor Monday Okpebholo to immediately address this matter publicly and transparently, “rather than through the usual silence and subterfuge that has become his preferred method of avoiding accountability”.
The statement, which was signed by the Edo State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Dan Osa-Ogbegie, posited that if the allegations were false, let the Attorney-General be vindicated before the entire nation, and “If they are true, then Edo State must not, for a single day more, tolerate an Attorney-General whose academic credentials are the product of manipulation, misrepresentation or undue advantage”.
Describing the development as “profoundly troubling”, Osa-Ogbegie contended that “While it is true that Mr. Otaru, SAN, has enjoyed a long and commendable legal career, such a career, however illustrious, cannot and must not be used to sidestep allegations of academic impropriety”.
He insisted that “A professorship is not an ornament of political prestige. It is a hard-earned academic rank achieved only through transparent scholarly progression, including mandatory service as Reader or Associate Professor, and backed by verifiable research, teaching, examination of postgraduate students, and recognised intellectual contributions”.
According to him, the petition alleged that “none of these essential academic milestones was attained prior to the purported appointment of Mr. Otaru as Professor of Law”, adding that “It equally raises questions about the authenticity and academic weight of the Ph.D. said to have been obtained only recently from a nondescript institution. These are not trivial inconsistencies. They are serious claims that strike at the heart of academia and at the dignity of the chief law office of our state”.
Recalling that this is not the first time Edo people were being forced to endure embarrassment “from the bungling, uncoordinated and reckless Okpebholo administration”, the PDP noted that “What makes this episode even more shocking is that the Governor and his rubber-stamp Edo State House of Assembly failed woefully to conduct proper background checks before clearing and appointing commissioners, despite taking nearly a full year to assemble a cabinet”.
Osa-Ogbegie, who described as staggering the intellectual lassitude displayed by both the governor and the Assembly in this matter, wondered how a government that kept Edo waiting for months could not perform the most basic due diligence on nominees. He said this is yet another glaring testament to the “administrative incompetence and indolence” that had become the hallmark of this government.
The PDP lamented that “This is how Edo State, once respected for its intellectual heritage, now finds itself reeling from yet another avoidable national embarrassment orchestrated by an administration that confuses governance with improvisation and treats due diligence as an inconvenience”.
Stating that “This administration has embarrassed Edo people enough”, the party warned that “It must not add the desecration of academic credibility to its growing list of failures”.
In his reaction, the attorney general said the allegations could be a deliberate attempt to smear his rising profile.
According to Otaru, “It is very funny. The Senator of the university conferred it on me. I have a letter to that effect and on that day, I was not the only one; we were about four.
“It was an approval from the Senate of the University, and I delivered the lecture on that day, 9th of December 2024.
“I am a PhD holder. I have two master’s degrees, and I have up to five or six fellowships. I have been SAN working for the past 20 years, so what are they talking about? Maybe somebody there engineered it because of my rising profile”.
In their petition, some ‘Concerned Law Students’ of faculty of Law, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti had queried the professorship conferred on Otaru alleging that he may have compromised the authorities of the school to get it.
In their petition to the National Universities Commission (NUC), and Council of Legal Education signed by Comrade. K. Akanbi, dated December 7, 2025, and made available to newsmen on Monday, the students described the conferment as “a great academic fraud” and called for investigation.
Akanbi said, “The said Otaru is a full time private legal practitioner in Ilorin Kwara State who got his PhD in law two years ago from one private University in Ogun State.
“He has neither taught nor examined postgraduate law students anywhere in Nigeria to qualify him for appointment as an Associate Professor of law (Reader), let alone Professor of law.
“It is for this reason that we ask that the circumstances surrounding the alleged conferment of the Professor of law status on Mr. Roland Otaru is investigated and the culprits brought to book.”
The petitioners threatened a week-long protest by mid-January 2026 if the issue was not investigated, stressing that, “As law students, we have decided to speak up because our lecturers who know the truth are afraid of shaking tables.”