Immigration Applicants drag FG to court, demand over N500bn damages

The controversy over the deadly
recruitment test conducted by the
Nigeria Immigration Service has
metarmorphosed into a legal action
brought against the Federal Government
by the applicants who participated in the
exercise.
Specifically, four persons acting for
themselves and onbehalf of all those
applicants to recruitment exercise which
claimed 18 lives yesterday dragged the
Federal Government, Minister of Interior
and four others before a Federal High
court seeking an order declaring that the
conduct or the execution of the
Recruitment Exercise illegal,
unwarranted, in violation of the
Applicants' fundamental rights to life.
The suit was brought under Sections
33,34, and 44 of the 1999 Constitition
(amended) and the equivalent articles of
the African Charter on Human and
Peoples Right Act.
Also joined as respondents in the suit are
the Attorney General of the Federation
and Minister of Justice, Ministry of
Interior, Nigerian Immigration Service
and its Comptroller General, David
Shikfu Parradang.
The applicants, Charles Ugwuonye,
Friday Danlami, Chinedu Onwuka and
Samson Ojo through their counsel,
Emeka Ugwuonye had among other
things want the court to declare the
recruitment exercise illegal and restrain
the NIS from spending the money
realized from the recruitment exercise.
They also want the court to order the
respondents to refund the recruitment
money back to the applicants, pay the
sum of N1m to each applicant and N50m
to deceased applicants as general
damages.
They also want the court to declare that
the conduct or the execution of the
Recruitment illegal, unwarranted, in
violation of the Applicants' fundamental
rights to life, right to protection from
inhuman and degrading treatment, right
to dignity of the human person, right
against discrimination on the basis of the
circumstances of birth and right against
unlawful taking of the property of a
person; under Sections 33, 34, 42 and 44
of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended),
and the equivalent Articles of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
Act.
The applicant had prayed for an order
declaring that the Respondents,
particularly the Minister of Interior and
Comptroller General of the Nigerian
Immigration Service owed the duty of
honesty and candor to the Applicants
regarding the true purpose and intention
behind the Recruitment Exercise.
The court is also asked to declare that
the Respondents, particularly the
Minister of Interior and the Controller
General of the Nigerian Immigration
Service had a duty to superintend the
Recruitment Exercise in a safe and
healthy manner with due consideration
to lives and wellbeing of those who
applied for or participated in the
Recruitment Exercise.
The applicants further want an order
declaring that the Nigerian Immigration
2014 Recruitment Exercise was carried
out in a manner that was motivated by
greed and corrupt intentions and without
any realistic plan to offer the Applicants
employments.
Also they want an order declaring that
the Respondents do not have the power
to appropriate any funds raised by them
from the Recruitment Exercise, even if
not otherwise illegal, but must remit
such funds to the Federation Account.
The applicants further want court to
grant an order of interim injunction
restraining the Respondents from
spending any of the funds raised from
the Recruitment Exercise and an order
of perpetual injunction restraining the
Respondents from spending any of the
funds raised from the Recruitment
Exercise.
They also want the the court to direct
the Respondents to refund each
Applicant the sum of N1,000which he or
she paid to participate in the
Recruitment Exercise and also an order
directing the Respondents to pay
general damages in the amount of N1
million to each living Applicant for the
violation of the Applicant's rights as
enumerated in this Application.
The court is also asked to make an order
directing the Respondents to pay
general damages in the amount of N50
million to each person who lost his or her
life during the Recruitment Exercise.
In addition, the applicants want the court
to make an order directing the
Respondents to issue a written apology
to the Applicants, which shall be
published in five Nigerian newspapers
and on the main website by the 5th
Respondent and which shall remain
posted on the said site for 3 (three)
years in memory of those who died
during the Recruitment Exercise.
In a 45 paragraph affidavit deposed to by
one Chris Ebosie, the applicants averred
that in or around September of 2013,
the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS)
placed an advertisement, titled "Nigeria
Immigration 2014 Recruitment
Exercise", on its website
http://www.immigration.gov.ng and
several Nigerian newspapers.
They further averred that the said
advertisement did no describe in a clear
manner specific qualifications for the
vacancies available and it did not
indicate the number of vacancies
available, but it merely encouraged
anybody with qualifications greater than
secondary school education to apply
online through a website it designated
for that purpose.
The plaintiffs also averred that the
advertisement directed interested
applicants to pay N1,000 through various
banks listed in the advertisement,
including, but not limited to, Zenith
Bank. Upon payment of online of N1,000
(comprising N850.00 for Application
Charges and N150.00 for Transaction
Charges), an applicant will receive a
three paged print-out as in EXHIBIT A.
The said print-out contains three sets of
numbers, viz: (a) Validation Number, (b)
Transaction Number and (c) Application
Number. But there appears no distinct
values for these numbers.
Also they averred that there was no
indication as to the purpose of the
N1000 paid by each applicant and the
application process was left open
between September 2013 and January
2014. The NIS encouraged more and
more Nigerians to apply for the
vacancies. Hundreds of thousands of
people applied utilizing the same
method that resulted in a print-out as in
EXHIBIT A.
In addition, they averred that the
consultant that handled the recruitment
exercise into the Nigeria Immigration
Service, was selected by the Ministry of
Interior, without open competitive
bidding and that the Ministry of Interior
appointed the private firm, Drexel
Nigeria Limited, to handle the
recruitment process.
They added that the Minister of Interior,
Patrick Abba Moro, had admitted publicly
that 526,650 persons applied for the
exercise nationwide, which translates to
over N526,000,000 in revenue to the
ministry and the consultant. See EXHIBIT
B.
Also, "That the relationship between the
NIS or the Ministry of Interior and Drexel
is not an arms length relationship, but
instead, on information and belief,
Drexel is a front used by Patrick Abba
Moro, the Minister of Interior. That I
believe that the Ministry of Interior did
not pay its share of the money to the
Federation Account, but rather shared it
among its principal officers, with Minister
Moro keeping the bulk of the money for
himself.
"​That based on documentary evidence,
the NIS was initially not comfortable with
the decision of the Ministry of Interior to
use a consultant to handle the
recruitment process, but the Comptroller
General of Immigration, David
Parradang, and his management team,
did not protest the decision apart from a
letter from Mr. Parradang raising the
issues. See EXHIBIT C, which is a letter
from Mr. Parradang on the issues.
"That the NIS leadership was said to
have kept silent over the issue to avoid a
clash with Minister Moro and the Ministry
of Interior officials and the Civil Defence,
Fire, Immigration, and Prison Service
Board, controlled by Mr. Moro.
"That the NIS had vacancy for about
4,500 personnel, but the number of
applicants was far in excess of the
figure, meaning that only one candidate
would be hired out of over 117
applicants. This information was not
made available to the public until 15th
March, 2014, after the recruitment
exercise had been underway with all the
crisis that marked it. See EXHIBIT B.
"That the criteria for the employment
into the vacancies were vague,
imprecise and generic to make most
Nigerians believe they were qualified for
the vacancies and stood a good chance
of getting recruited.
"That I believe that goal behind such
vague description of qualification criteria
was aimed at raising as much money as
possible irrespective of the vacancies
available.
"That it appears that the use of a
consultant to recruit personnel for the
para-military agency was an aberration
because the consulting firm could not
carry out the necessary security checks
on the applicants.
"That the consultant firm is relatively
unknown as it has no website of its own,
no listing in any list of consulting firms,
no history, no track record, and appears
to have been set up just for this
recruitment exercise.
"That the decision to use the particular
consultant was taken solely by the
Ministry of interior for political patronage
and the NIS leadership did not protest it
to avoid a clash with the ministry
leadership".

The Herald