NIS RECRUITMENT TRAGEDY: Court frees Abba Moro, jails perm Sec

A federal high court sitting in Abuja has freed a former minister of Interior, Abba Moro in a suit over the death of about 20 applicants during a recruitment exercise of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in 2014.

The court presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba however convicted a former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, Daniel-Nwobia.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday discharged and acquitted former minister of Interior, Abba Moro, as regards his charges of fraud emanating from the conduct of the botched Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment leading to the death of 20 people in 2014.

Abba Morro and three others were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2016 on 11 charges that bordered on allegations of obtaining money by pretext, procurement fraud and money laundering traced to him and two others by the anti-graft agency.

Following a no case submission, Justice Dimgba, who had, in 2020 quashed seven out of the 11 charges against Abba Morro and his codefendants, freed the former minister in the remaining four counts.

The Court, however, deferred the sentencing of Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia to April 27.

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

The former Permanent Secretary was convicted on count four of the charge, which the court noted, carries a maximum jail term of five years without an option of a fine.

Other defendants were a Deputy Director in the Ministry, F. O Alayebami; one Mahmood Ahmadu (at large) and the contracting firm given the recruitment job, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.

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