Court adjourns ex-Minister's case to Sept 29

A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the case of former Interior Minister, Mr

Charged along with Moro are the former Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Anastasia Nwobia and a Deputy Director in the ministry Mr F.O Alayabami.

At the resumed hearing on Friday, Mr Paul Erokoro(SAN), a member of the defence team, crossed examined the former Comptroller- General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr David Parradang.

When Erokoro sought to know if the recruitment was initiated by the minister or permanent secretary, he said "I do not know.’’

Parradang had on June 8, while being led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Mr Yusuf Aliyu, told the court that he was not aware of the recruitment exercise.

Parradang, who was the first prosecution witness, told the court that he was shocked when he saw reports in the media about a recruitment by the Service.

``In September, I was referred to a publication in one of the dailies that NIS was recruiting officers into assistant superintendent, inspectorate and assistant inspectorate cadres.

``I was surprised about the recruitment exercise because as a comptroller-general I was not aware of it,’’ he said.

The former NIS boss had also told the court that there was no budget for the said recruitment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the NIS conducted recruitment on March 15, 2014 that led to the death of 15 applicants, while several others were wounded.

NAN reports that the Federal Government put Moro on trial over alleged N676 million fraud arising from the exercise.