Former Interior Minister, Abba Moro and a deputy director in the Ministry,
\nF. 0. Alayebami were on Monday ordered to be remanded in prison till
\nWednesday after they pleaded not guilty to 11-count charge bordering on
\nabuse of procurement process and diversion of public funds preferred
\nagainst him and four others by the Economic and Financial Crimes
\nCommission, EFCC.<\/p>\n
The second defendant in the case, a permanent secretary in the ministry at
\nthe time the offences were committed, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, a deputy
\ndirector in the ministry who also pleaded not guilty to the charge, was
\ngranted administrative bail while the fourth defendant, Mahmood Ahmadu,
\nwas said to be at large.<\/p>\n
After the plea of the men were taken, counsel to the defendants asked for
\nbail for their clients. The presiding judge, Justice Anwuli Chikere of the
\nFederal High Court said the bail application will be argued on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In the 11-count charge, the EFCC accused the defendants and a contracting
\nfirm, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, of defrauding and allegedly collecting
\nN676.6 million from 676,675 job seekers in the fatal Nigerian Immigration
\nService recruitment exercise in 2014.<\/p>\n
Moro, Daniel-Nwobia, and F. O. Alayebami, Mahmood Ahmadu (at large), and
\nDrexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, are being accused of defrauding 676,675 Nigerian
\napplicants of N676,675,000.<\/p>\n
According to the anti-graft agency, N202,500,000 of the amount was spent
\non buying No. 1, Lahn Crescent, Maitama, Abuja while N120,100,000 was used
\nto upgrade No.2, Sigure Close, Off Monrovia Street, Wuse II Abuja.<\/p>\n
The commission said the recruitment firm, Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited, and
\nMahmood Ahmadu converted N101,200,000 to US dollars for personal use.<\/p>\n
The accused are also alleged to have contravened the Public Procurement
\nAct, No. 65 of 2007 in the contract awards by not following the necessary
\nprocedure laid down by the government.<\/p>\n
One of the charges are:
\n\u201cThat you Abba Moro, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, F.O. Alayebami, Mahmood
\nAhmadu (at large) and Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd on or about the 17th of
\nMarch 2013 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with
\nintent to defraud conspired to induce a total number of 676,675 Nigerian
\njob applicants seeking employment with Nigerian Immigration Service to
\ndeliver property to wit: cumulative sum of N676,675,000 which sum
\nrepresents the sum of N1,000 per applicant under the false pretence that
\nthe money represents payment for their online recruitment exercise into
\nNigerian Immigration Service and which pretence you knew was false,
\ncontrary to Section 8 and 1(1) (b) and punishable under Section 1(3) of
\nthe Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, No. 14 of 2006.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Interior Minister, Abba Moro and a deputy director in the Ministry, F. 0. Alayebami were on Monday ordered to be remanded in prison till Wednesday after they pleaded not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n