A former Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr David Parradang, on Wednesday told a Federal High Court, Abuja, that he was not aware of the recruitment exercise. Parradang, the first prosecution witness, made this known at the commencement of the trial of former Interior Minister, Mr Abba Moro.
The NIS boss told the court that he was shocked when he saw reports in the media about a recruitment exercise by the Service.
“In September, I was referred to a publication in one of the dailies that NIS was recruiting officers into assistant superintendent cadre, inspectorate and assistant inspectorate cadre.
“I was surprised about the recruitment exercise because as a comptroller-general, I was not aware of it,’’ he said. Parradang further told the court that he called two board members to ask whether they were aware of any recruitment advert for the NIS but they too said they were not aware. At this point, the defendants objected to his evidence, saying that it was mere hearsay. Moro’s Counsel Chris Uche (SAN), in his objection, said that by rules of evidence a witness could not give evidence as to what he was told but only on what he knows.
The Prosecuting Counsel, Mr Aliyu Yusuf, attempted to tender a letter written by the comptroller-general to the board as evidence but this too was also objected to by the defence. Yusuf, however, said that the document was admissible because relevance determines admissibility of a document. Defence Counsel Paul Irokoro (SAN) said that even though the document was certified, without the prescribed fee paid, it could not be tendered in evidence.
The judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, ordered a strict case management approach. Dimgba ordered the prosecution and the defence to meet, harmonise and agree on documents to be relied on to reduce the time spent on legal arguments over admissibility of documents. He adjourned the case till June 10 to rule on the objection raised by the defence and continuation of trial. Moro was arraigned on an 11-count charge of advance fee fraud, money laundering and breach of Public Procurement Act to the tune of N676.6 million.
He was arraigned alongside the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Anastasia Nwobia, F.O. Alayebami and Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited. Moro, who was granted bail on self-recognition, was accused of defrauding 676, 675 applicants of N676, 675, 000, being the aggregate of N1000 paid by each applicant to Drexel ahead of the NIS recruitment. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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