The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday took into custody, the former Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro and two others over the ill-fated 2014 recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service, which led to the death of no fewer than 20 Nigerian job-seekers.
Also taken into custody and interrogated along with the former minister was the then permanent secretary in the interior minister, Fatima Bamidele and a director in the Immigrations, Fire Service, Prisons and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, simply indentified as Ibrahim.
A highly placed source within the anti-graft agency who confirmed Moro’s arrests, said that the former minister and his accomplices will be arraigned on a 12-count charge in the Federal High Court Abuja on Tuesday.
Some of the charges against Moro and his colleagues, according to the source include obtaining by false pretence, procurement offences, corrupt practices and money laundering.
Recalled that at least nine job seekers died on March 15, 2014 at the Abuja National Stadium and four applicants died from the stampede and 12 others sustained injuries in Port Harcourt, Rivers State while scrambling to secure seats for a recruitment test into the Nigerian Immigration Service, while
The stampede was followed by mass wide condemnation from Nigerians who demanded the resignation or dismissal of Moro and the then Comptroller-General of Immigration, David Parradang, as well as their criminal prosecution for involuntary homicide.
They were accused of putting in place a sham recruitment process that enabled the interior ministry to extort at least N520 million in compulsory levy imposed on applicants.
Despite the widespread condemnation, the minister, who initially blamed impatience and refusal by applicants to abide by instructions for the tragedy, but later accepted responsibility for the incident, however, refused to step down.
When he appeared on a Channels TV’s breakfast programme, Sunrise, on October 20, 2014, Moro insisted that he would not resign, saying he would rather stay put in office to clear the mess caused by the incidence.
“The point at which we are now is not about resignation. That time has gone, At the time (people were calling for his resignation), I think emotions were very high. I was in the eye of a storm.
“At that time, a lot of options were on the table… The issue is do you resign or do you stay to sort out the problem that have been created?
“I decided that staying and mopping up the mess caused by the lack of proper implementation of our plans is better. That’s the point we are now,” stating that Nigerians should consider the tragedy as an accident which he too did not plan for or envisage.
“I also have families. I didn’t set out on that journey knowing that accident would occur that would lead to the death of human beings. We took everything into proper perspective. If we had succeeded, a few Nigerians would have congratulated us for the job well done,” he had said.
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