14 recipients of the Federal Character Commission’s (FCC) job racketeering have admitted to not working to the House of Representatives committee looking into the matter.
They claim that they are without work placements.
According to the beneficiaries on Monday, their salaries were transferred into a bank account owned by Haruna Kolo, the former FCC’s IPPIS Desk Officer, and Farida Dankaka, the FCC Chairman’s Chief of Protocol, on the platform of the Nigerian government’s Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS).
The House of Representatives committee was informed by one of the 14 beneficiaries, Gbadamosi Jalo, that Kolo had taken him to the IPPIS office and enrolled him there.
He claimed he had been paid since that time.
Despite receiving an alleged appointment letter from the National Institute of Oceanography, he claimed he had not been allocated to any government ministry, department, or organisation.
Jalo said to the MPs that he gave Kolo some cash in exchange for Kolo’s consideration, and that Kolo had informed him that the cash was being accepted on behalf of the FCC chairwoman.
He added that one Gambo Yisha’u, the Commissioner who represented Taraba at the FCC, had also assured him that Mrs. Dankaka would receive the money in question.
Twelve additional witnesses made comparable claims, claiming that although they had given Mr. Kolo money, they had not been assigned to any government ministry, department, or agency.
In his testimony, a potential beneficiary of the racket, Musa Ibrahim, said he paid some money to one Abdullahi Azareh, who acted as the linkman to the FCC commissioner representing Nasarawa State.
Ibrahim told the House Committee that though the police in Nasarawa State arrested Azareh after a barrage of complaints and petitions, he was released upon intervention by FCC commissioners.
He was quoted as saying, “We are victims of circumstances; the guy was arrested and detained for few hours because he was working with the commissioner representing Nasarawa State at the FCC.’’
The Chairman of the House Committee, Yusuf Gagdi, earlier said that the witnesses were invited after the committee got to know about their statements of account and payment to Kolo.
Gagdi said that while the committee was not a prosecuting agency, it would get to the root of the matter and recommend appropriate sanctions.
Berating IPPIS for its porosity, Gagdi said, “If Kolo was finding it easy to go to IPPIS to register payees without the knowledge of authorising officers, the IPPIS needs to answer a lot of questions.”
The House Committee Chairman assured that the committee would scrutinise the bank accounts of all FCC commissioners and the accounts of those serving as their go-between.
