The Economic and Financial
Crimes Commis s ion (EFCC) is
facing a major integrity test in its
recruitment process as 24 cadets
who were part of the ongoing
training at the Nigeria Defence
Academy (NDA) have allegedly
been dismissed in questionable
circumstance and their positions
taken over by others who were
not part of the initial recruitment
exercise.
In a protest letter dated January
16, 2017 and addressed to the
President of the Senate, Dr.
Bukola Saraki, the affected
cadets, through their lawyer,
Olusoji Toki, said they were
unfairly dismissed after they had
passed all the necessary tests,
including medical examination.
A copy of the petition, which was
exclusively obtained by New
Telegraph, has also been sent to
the Acting Chairman of the EFCC
and receipt duly acknowledged
by the antigraft agency. In the
letters, the petitioners claimed
that the EFCC sent text messages
(SMS) with similar contents to
them on June 12, 2016 inviting
them for screening against the
June 23, 2016 and they attended
the screening which took place
in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu
and Lagos.
“Because they were successful in
the screening, EFCC invited them
for aptitude test on the 25th of
June 2016 which they did
successfully. Because of their
success at the aptitude test, EFCC
shortlisted them and invited
them for medical screening
exercise via SMS which they
attended at the Nigeria Air Force
Base Hospital, Mando, Kaduna on
Thursday, 22nd November 2016.
“EFCC sent another message to
them in which it congratulated
them because they were
successful in the medical
screening exercise of the EFCC.
And they were, therefore, invited
to attend an interview at the EFCC
Zonal Office, No 4, Wurno Road,
Off Katuru Road, Badurawa,
Kaduna State on Thursday, 27th
October 2016 which they
attended.
“EFCC sent another SM to them
that they were successful at the
recently conducted EFCC
recruitment for the Diploma
Cadre. EFCC further directed them
to attend the Cadet Training at
the Nigeria Defence Academy
(NDA), Old Site, Kaduna,” the
petition stated.
According to the letter, the
commission equally supplied
them with the details of the
things they should take along
with them for the training which
they did when they reported for
the said training on December
11, 2016.
They claimed that after spending
three weeks of rigorous training
in the camp, the EFCC called 24 of
them out that they have serious
medical issues such as kidney
disorder, lump in the breast,
blood in urine and high blood
pressure.
The trainees were said to have
protested the sudden change in
their medical fitness report and
were given the option of
undergoing another round of
medical examinations in
designated government and
military hospitals. Counsel to the
affected trainees, Toki, said that
though the fresh medical reports
were favourable to his clients,
the EFCC has refused to accept
them and allow them resume
their training programme.
Toki observed that given the
evidence contained in the new
medical reports, it does appear
that the EFCC unjustly fabricated
the excuses in order to shove the
24 trainees aside and replace
them with “special candidates”
from other states of the
federation. He warned that his
clients would have no other
option than to seek legal redress
if the EFCC continued to ignore
their request for reinstatement.
Before now, there had been
allegations that the EFCC had
consistently breached the federal
character principle in its
recruitment processes, a
situation that has left certain
parts of the country excluded
from the commission. Attempt to
get the spokesman of the EFCC,
Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, to react to
the petition did not yield the
desired response as he neither
picked the calls nor responded to
the text message sent to his
mobile phone. source: https://newtelegraphonline.com/top-stories/recruitment-scandal-rocks-efcc/cc:obinoscopy, lalasticlala, mynd44, ishilove |
