NIS Recruitment Scam: Prosecution Calls in Former Comptroller-General as First Witness

By Alex Enumah

A former Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, David Paradang, was on Wednesday called in as the first prosecution witness (PW1) in the ongoing trial of former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, who is being tried  for the 2014 tragic Nigeria Immigration recruitment exercise  in which more than a dozen job seekers died.

Moro was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Anastasia Nwobia, F.O. Alayebami and Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited while Mahmood Ahmadu was said to be at large.

They are accused of defrauding 676,675 applicants of the sum of N676, 675, 000, being the aggregate of N1000 paid by each applicant to Drexel ahead of the recruitment.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Delivering judgment on the bail application, the former trial judge, Justice Chikere, who ruled that the alleged offences the defendants are charged with are bailable, granted Moro bail on self- recognition, while the second and third defendants were granted bail on the sum of N100m each with tow sureties in like sum.