Mrs Uzoma, who was appointed the second female
controller-general of the NIS following the sudden death of her predecessor in
office, Mrs Rosemary Nwizu, allegedly incurred the wrath of the government due
to various misdemeanours such as sending her cousins and other
lower-cadre staff on foreign intervention programmes meant for senior NIS
personnel.
Before her appointment as the NIS boss, Mrs Uzoma held sway in
Anambra State and later served as the controller of immigration at the African
Affairs in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
According to her colleagues and some of her subordinates, Uzoma
spared no love for persons from regions of the country other than her native
Abia State, and particularly those from Umuahia. She allegedly posted her
relations to “juicy positions within the service”.
For instance, a source disclosed that four of her first cousins,
from the Nwabueze family, were sent on foreign intervention missions to choice
countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the Nwabuezes,
an inspector in the service at the time of posting in 2006, had since relocated
his family to the US, but now lives on the bills of the NIS.
Comfort Nwabueze, a typist in Festac Passport Office, another of
her first cousins in Lagos, was also sent on foreign intervention trips about
three or four times. This was also courtesy of Uzoma, who also ensured that
Comfort remained at the Festac office, a three-minute walk from her house.
Most startling of the revelations about the sacked NIS chief is
the fact that even with the much-touted fool-proof nature of the Nigeria
e-passport, some foreigners, particularly Ghanaians and Beninois who are
commercial vehicle drivers on the Lagos-Badagry-Seme-Cotonou international
route, have Nigeria’s e-passport.
It was also learnt that, in a move to demonstrate her love and
commitment to her marriage and her husband’s kinsmen in Nkwerre, Imo State,
Uzoma turned recruitment in the NIS to a family affair when she allegedly
announced at a Town Hall meeting that the youths of Imo State origin who are
interested in being recruited into NIS should make their intentions known. This
gesture, expectedly, threw up an army of applicants, several of whom eventually
got recruited into the NIS, not necessarily out of merit but on the basis of
tribal and marital ties.
When LEADERSHIP WEEKEND confronted Mrs. Uzoma with some of these
allegations through a text message, her response was prompt: “You may wish to
get in touch with my PA on these issues.”
At the NIS headquarters in Sauka, Abuja, Uzoma‘s PA, Dominique
Asogwu, simply explained that the allegations against the former NIS chief were
incorrect. “These allegations against the CG are not true. They are unfair. It
wasn’t she who tilted the Imo State figure high. Remember, the recruitment
board have had two chairmen who were of Imo State extraction. They may have
wittingly or unwittingly done this before the CG assumed office.”
Sources said Uzoma also had problem with interior minister Abba
Moro because “the minister equally wanted more of his people in other choice
and juicy states like Ogun, Kano, Lagos and Akwa Ibom states. Others are Rivers
and Cross River states, but Uzoma was also bitterly fighting for her own
people”.
They alleged that the minister ordered the posting of a new
officer to the Festac passport office as the new passport officer, but Mrs.
Uzoma disregarded it and returned her favourite to the office. Also, the
helmsman of the Ogun State command, who is reported to be a candidate of a
former president without throwing a fight, allegedly reported to the Nigerian
leader, who in turn called President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure the CG reversed
the appointment.
President Jonathan was said to have ordered the interior
minister to reverse the postings but a vehemently adamant Uzoma would take none
of that, a situation which led to her sack last week by the president.
Source: Leadership
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