A Federal High Court in Abuja has convicted a former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Interior, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, over the botched 2014 recruitment into the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, in a judgment yesterday, found Mrs. Daniel-Nwobia guilty of breaching the Public Procurement Act (PPA) by not ensuring that the approval of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) was obtained in the contract for the recruitment.
Justice Dimgba discharged and acquitted two other defendants in the case – former Interior Minister Abba Moro (now a serving senator) and a Director of Finance in the ministry, Femi Alaiyebami.
The judge noted that the prosecuting agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), failed to prove its case that the defendants abused their offices and defrauded the Federal Government.
But he deferred the sentencing of Mrs. Daniel-Nwoba, who was convicted on only count four, till April 27.
He ordered that Mrs. Daniel-Nwoba, who has since retired from service, should continue to enjoy the bail earlier granted her, pending when she would be sentenced.
The EFCC had, in 2016, brought an 11-count charge against Moro, Daniel-Nwobia, Alaiyebami and a firm, Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited, engaged to provide technological backing for the recruitment.
The commission accused them of, among others, obtaining money by pretext, procurement fraud and money laundering.
The accused were said to have defrauded the 675,675 graduate applicants, who paid N1,000 each to access an e-portal to apply for job.
The physical aspect of the recruitment in March 2014 led to the death of about 15 applicants, with many others injured in stampedes recorded in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Minna during the exercise.
The EFCC closed its case on November 25, 2019, after calling 12 witnesses and tendering 57 documentary exhibits.
The defendants made no-case submissions, which Justice Dimgba partially upheld in a ruling on June 26, 2020.
He discharged and acquitted Drexel, holding that it did nothing wrong.
Justice Dimgba struck out counts 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 (seven out of the 11 counts) and ordered Moro, Daniel-Nwobia and Alaiyebami to enter defence over counts 2, 4, 5 and 11.
In his judgment yesterday, the judge discharged and acquitted the three defendants in counts 2, 5 and 11, but convicted Mrs. Daniel-Nwobia on count 2.