House Committee Uncovers More Dubious Deals At FCC

FCC chairman, Muheebat Dankaka

The House of Representatives committee has uncovered more shady dealings at the Federal Character Commission (FCC).

Haruna Kolo, a former officer at the FCC, had earlier admitted to collecting large sums from job seekers for the FCC chairman, Muheebat Dankaka.

On Tuesday, Abdulmalik Ahmed and Ali Yero confessed to paying N3 million to secure jobs at the FCC. Ahmed stated they paid after being assured of employment in 2021.

He said, “We learnt that there was recruitment in 2021 and each of the commissioners and directors had candidates. We who were nobodies, ordinary citizens of the country, we came through this process.

“After having the appointments, Mr. Kolo promised to post us like in two months. That was the reason we were convinced about him. I got to know Kolo through the driver of the Taraba Commissioner at FCC. I transferred a million naira to Kolo’s account on the arrangement, because I was told that, the monthly pay was about N140,000 or N130,000. So, we agreed on N1.5million with the driver first. We bargained with the driver on behalf of Kolo. His name is Yusha’u Gambo.”

Yero on his part said his two brothers paid millions in instalments to secure the job for him.

He noted that one of them paid N1.5m while the other paid N500,000 as a balance.

He said, “My brothers, Nurudeen Yero and Abdulrazak Yero paid the sum of N2m to Badamasi Yaro’s account on August 2, 2022. Badamasi Yaro is working with Haruna Kolo and the money paid into his account was for a job at the FCC.

“Haruna Kolo told me the slot was from the chairperson of the commission. That was why I would be captured under the IPPIS platform. Badamasi brought the employment letter with some documents for me on August 5, 2022, Badamasi took me to Treasury House where Kolo Haruna took me to the IPPIS office and I was captured on the IPPIS platform”.

They added, however, that their appointment letters were later collected from them by the Human Resources Unit with a promise to regularise them after an investigation.

Although his appointment letter was collected from him, Yero said he was still receiving salaries.

After their submissions, the Chairman of the Committee, Yusuf Gagdi, told the witnesses to reach out to the other applicants involved to enable the committee to arrange a meeting with them.

He, thereafter, directed the Clerk to invite Kolo, the Secretary and driver to the Commissioner representing Taraba in the FCC to appear before Committee on Wednesday to explain their roles as proxies in the alleged job racketeering.