Abba Moro defends role in NIS recruitment scam, narrates what went wrong

A former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, on Thursday began his defence in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) scam trial before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) is prosecuting Moro alongside Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, a former permanent secretary in the ministry; F.O. Alayebami, a deputy director in the ministry, Mahmood Ahmadu, currently at large, and Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited, a firm involved in the ill-fated recruitment exercise, for money laundering, abuse of office, procurement fraud and fraud against Nigerian applicants to the tune of N675.6 million.

In his testimony, Moro said that the March 17, 2014 NIS recruitment exercise “was marred with controversies, accusations, nepotism, job racketeering and lopsidedness. The controversies had derailed recruitment exercise even before I became the Minister of Interior.”

Moro entered his defence on counts two, four, five and 11 out of the 11- count charges preferred against him and others as the rest of the charges were dismissed in his “no case submission.”

READ ALSO: NIS RECRUITMENT SCAM: Court sacks seven of 11 charges against Senator Moro

Testifying as first defense witness (DW1), and led by his counsel, Paul Erokoro (SAN), Moro said the Ministry of Interior, sometime in December 2012 received a waiver from the Office of the Head of Service for the recruitment of 4556 officers, which he directed to be recruited accordingly.

Moro said he had to cancel the initial recruitment exercise with assurance to the country that he was going to enthrone a cost effective and modern method of recruitment, which he said saw to a proposal from a technology company for an e-recruitment platform.

He said that the e-recruitment platform was adopted and forwarded to the procurement department for vetting and approval and the Ministerial Tenders Board, which approved Drexel Technological Ltd for the project for a period of five years and forwarded to his office for his endorsement.

Moro told the court, “I am not a member of the procurement department and I couldn’t have influenced anybody and therefore did not commit any fraud”,

Fifteen applicants died in the NIS recruitment exercise with scores sustaining injuries due to the ministry’s supposed shoddy preparations.

But Moro said he could not have caused the stampede because the recruitment process started in 2012 and was eventually carried out in 2014.

Justice Dimgba adjourned the matter till February 23, 24 and 25, 2021, for Moro’s cross-examination and continuation of trial.

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