David Parradang was suspended as the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) last Friday for allegedly employing about 1,600 fake workers, emerging facts have revealed.
Speculation was rife over the weekend that Parradang was fired by the presidency due to the controversies trailing the granting Nigerian visa to an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) cleric, Ahmed Al-Assir, in Lebanon, a matter that is now subject of official probe. Contrary to the speculation, the NIS boss lost his job due to gross misconduct.
According to a memo signed by a director/secretary in the ministry in charge of Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board, Mr A.A. Ibrahim, Parrdang was relieved of his duties for issuing letters of appointment of 700 assistant inspectors of Immigration and 900 Immigration Assistants III into the Service without approval.
The letter further revealed that the immigration boss was suspended for refusing to take necessary measures to correct his action despite repeated advice given to him by the Ministry of Interior through several letters with reference nos FMI/PSO/OOl/lll/402 of June 11, 2015, and FMI/PSO/OOl/lll/411 of June 14, 2015.
The indictment memo reads in part: “Having considered the above mentioned acts committed by you to mean deliberate to the extant laws, insubordination to constituted authority and improper behaviour inimical to the service that is unbecoming of a public officer, l am to inform you that you have been suspended from office with immediate effect.
“While you await further instruction, you are to hand over the affairs of your office to the most senior officer in the Nigeria Immigration Service. Please accept the well wishes of the permanent secretary,” the Board said in the letter dated August 21.
The Nigerian Immigration Service, it would be recalled, was rocked by recruitment scandal in 2013 in which about 20 applicants died in a stampede while many others also sustained varying degrees of injuries. The incident was attributed to poor organisation of the recruitment exercise.
Another recruitment ordered by former President Good luck Jonathan to benefit relations of applicants who died in the fiasco of the 2013 recruitment exercise was similarly mired in controversies. The intended beneficiaries complained of being left out while children and cronies of top officials of the Service were recruited.
NIS, deputy comptroller-general of Immigration, Martin Kure Abeshi, has been directed to take over from Parradang.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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