Adolphus Wabara, a former Senate President and the current Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, has demanded that Muheeba Dankaka, the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, be fired due to accusations of corruption.
The former Senate President talked about his experience visiting the FCC to look for jobs for people in his district in an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH.a
“I physically went to the FCC, requesting two or three jobs for some people in my wards. You will not believe that up till now, nothing has been done for the simple reason that I have not dropped any money and that they cannot even ask me to drop money. But I found out from some people there that they wouldn’t give any job to my ward for free,” Wabara stated.
This is not the first time that the FCC has been the subject of accusations of job racketeering. In a public hearing held by a House of Representatives Committee committee charged with looking into the matter, 14 witnesses stated that they had paid money to Haruna Kolo, a former FCC desk officer for the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, in exchange for job placements.
Kolo, following an interrogation, admitted to collecting money from job seekers and claimed to have transferred it over to Dankaka.
But a year later, the committee headed by Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau) still hasn’t released its findings, which has some speculating that the investigation was stifled.
A source within the House of Representatives, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, indicated that substantial evidence was collected but went unaddressed due to the influence of those implicated.
Wabara attacked the National Assembly and the APC-led administration for allegedly neglecting the issue that verged on corruption.
“Despite the serious allegations, nothing has been done. I expected the same swift action that was taken against Betta Edu (former minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation) to be applied here,” he said.
He claimed that there has been an increase in corrupt activities under the current administration and accused the ruling party of not keeping its promise to fight corruption.
Meanwhile, calls to committee chairman Gagdi’s cell phone were unanswered, making it impossible to reach him to respond to the matter.
As of the time this report was filed, he had also not replied to messages given to him by WhatsApp and SMS.
Similarly, efforts to contact Akin Rotimi, the spokesman for the House of Representatives, to comment on the issue were unsuccessful. Calls to his phones and messages on his WhatsApp account were not returned.
Adebayo Shittu, a former minister of communications and prominent member of the APC, called for further investigations in response to the claims. He disclosed that he had discussed the allegations of job racketeering with an FCC member, who had corroborated them.
Shittu reiterated the need for accountability, saying, “If the President acted quickly against Betta Edu, similar actions should be taken in this case. We must ensure that there are no selective investigations into corruption.”
In order to resolve the problems within the FCC and rebuild public trust in the organisation, he declared that immediate action was necessary.
“This is not a political issue and not about our party, the APC, but about the need to do the right thing. People have accused this woman, and it is only through public investigation that we can certify that the woman was indeed a victim of blasphemy.
“So, I want to appeal to Mr President and the Senate President that something concrete should be done about it by way of proper investigation.”
