The former NIS boss
stated this at the resumed trial of Moro before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja.
Paradang, had on
Wednesday while testifying as PW1 told the court that he was sidelined by the
former Minister (Moro), who neither him nor the board of the NIS informed him of
the exercise until he saw an advertisement to that effect.
Led in evidence by
counsel to the EFCC,
Aliyu M. Yusuf, Paradang stated that, he wrote a letter to the Board
on September 9, 2013
to enquire about the recruitment exercise but was not honured with a reply.
“I
wrote again,
precisely a month after that is,
on October 9, 2013
because I saw another advert that extended the date of submission of
applications. Still, there
was no communication between me and the Board, untill October 20, 2013 when the secretary of the Board, Mr.
Tapgun,
replied me that they had recieved my letter.”
The letter was presented and admitted as exhibit.
“After that, there was no further communication between
me and the Board
untill
on the third week of January 2014
when I went to
the National Assembly with the minister
(Moro) to defend our budget. To my uttermost dismay, it was there he (Moro)
announced
that a date had been fixed for the recruitment exercise. I was shocked because it betrayed our mission to the National Assembly
and aside that, the Service hadn’t any money for any recruitment at that
time.
“Eventually, the Board called for a meeting where I raised my objection to the exercise for reasons of paucity
of funds but
the Commitee
suggested to the company engaged for the online recruitment to take N1000 (one
thousand naira) from each applicant to enable the Service fund the
process. However, the
company denied
the offer and then we were brought back to a zero position.
“We called the Minister’s attention to it but he did not say
anything until a day to the recruitment when he
(the
minister)
told him (CG)
to tell the comptrollers who would serve as
supervisors to
send their account numbers. I also received a letter from
the Board that day (March
14, 2016)
telling me
that all arrangement
had
been concluded for the recruitment
exercise”, Paradang stated
The document was presented and admitted as
exhibit.
The PW1 went further, “that same day, the
officers started calling to tell me that they had gotten alert of N300,000 (three hundred thousand
naira)
each. I was surprised because the Service
still did not have money and I wondered where the money came from. Besides the money could not even rent a venue or enough to make provisions for
ambulances let alone
pay the
allowances of the officers who will serve as supervisors.
“On the day of recruitment, I was in Jos with the minister.
And
not too long into the exercise, I started getting calls that the population of the applicants in each of the
venues was overwhelming. I advised them to seek help from sister
security agencies and keep me informed of the situation report. Not too long after that,
I started getting calls and ‘sms’ that there were
casualties. I told the minsiter the situation report and left immediately for Abuja.
“When I got to Abuja, I
called the supervisors one by one to get their verbal reports and thereafter directed them to back it up with written reports.
“At the close of the day, we had 15
casualties and
the DSS told us that the wounded were 165 nationally.
“I visited the National Hospital in company of the minister (Moro) the following day
and the minister promised
to pay the hospital bills of the wounded. We also visited the National Stadium to get reports of how the
applicants jumped the fence.
“There was a public outcry and then,
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan promised that the families of the deceased would
get three employment slots
each
while the wounded would be given automatic
employment.
“A year after, Jonathan made real his promise by giving
employement letters to the families of the deceased as well as the wounded: an event
that
was broadcast live.
“Sadly, the ministry, in a letter, over-ruled the president’s pronouncement and withdrew the letters of employment already delivered to the
affected people. The letter also stated that fresh recruitment
exercise would be conducted because the previous one was illegal”, Paradang
narrated.
The letter was presented and admitted as
exhibit.
Thereafter, Justice Dimgba adjourned
to July
1 and 5, 2016 for continuation of trial.
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