NDLEA officers kick against workers recruitment by sacked chairmen

Crisis may be brewing at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency over the ongoing recruitment of workers into the organisation as some senior officials have kicked against the process.

They alleged that it was a ploy by the outgoing Chairman of the agency, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd), to cover up some financial fraud.

Already, President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly approved the removal of the NDLEA boss and expected to hand over on or before January 10, 2021.

The aggrieved officers in a petition urged the President to suspend the recruitment, describing it as mischievous and that it was meant to cover up “reckless misappropriation” of funds.

The petition read in part, “Sequel to the receipt of the handover letter, the embattled outgoing chairman immediately ordered that letters be hurriedly dispatched to candidates to report to the NDLEA Academy in Jos for training on Monday January 11, 2021.

“This hasty move by Abdallah is mischievous and part of efforts to cover up the reckless misappropriation of the recruitment money released to him since 2019 as well as to thwart efforts at exposing the abnormalities that characterised the scandalous exercise.

“It was equally gathered that most of the candidates currently being shortlisted for the eleventh hour training did not even apply for the job and sat for the entrance examination. This sad development did not only negate the principles of transparency but geared towards denying Nigerians equal opportunity in serving their country.

“We the concerned officers hereby pass a vote of no confidence in the Abdallah-led recruitment exercise and passionately appeal to Mr. President to suspend the recruitment exercise to enable a forensic audit of the process in the interest of justice and fair play.”

Even as they accused Abdallah of hurriedly releasing names of candidates only after he got a letter to hand over, they called for a probe into the recruitment exercise.

They stated, “We hereby call for a comprehensive probe into the recruitment process beginning with the payment of N60 million to EmPlug ICT firm for creating an online portal that lasted for only two weeks.

“There was no publication in the newspapers for ICT firms to bid for the creation of the recruitment portal. As a result we want the entire awards of recruitment con­tracts that did not follow the due process properly investigated. All successful candi­dates must be vetted and certified to have applied online, sat for the examination and passed. Otherwise, a fresh exercise must be conducted under a new dispensation.”

The NDLEA spokesman, Jonah Achema, Deputy Commander of Narcotics, had in a statement on Friday in Abuja urged successful candidates to visit the agency’s website for the list, adding that those shortlisted had been contacted by email and SMS.

He stated, “The affected candidates, numbering 5,000, are to appear at the agency’s academy, Citadel Counter-Narcotics Nigeria, (CCNN), Katton Rikkos, Jos, Plateau State, for the screening and documentation exercise between January 10 and 23, 2021 at 0900 hours daily.”

In a similar petition to the President signed by one Musa Ahmed Yusuf, some concerned officers of the agency had accused the outgoing NDLEA boss of diverting N2.8 billion monthly operational allowances for commanders.

“Since 2016 that Abdallah took over, he has stopped the payment of monthly running cost to commanders. This has continued all through his tenure.

“The monthly allocation of the agency of about N48 million is used to service Abdallah’s personal interest. This has amounted to the sum of N2.8 billion in the past five years”, the petitioners alleged.