A promotion list published last week by the secretary of the Immigration Board is at the centre of the storm.
Inside sources trace the controversy surrounding the promotion exercise to the decision of the Interior Minister, Comrade Abba Moro to contract out the exercise to Drexel Consult, a firm in which some top government officials allegedly have interest.
“Drexel conducted exams a few months back and carried its recommendations to the board and was paid. Surprisingly the same minister who contracted the exercise to Drexel rejected their recommendations and brought out a list of undeserving officers for promotion by the board”, one of our sources who pleaded anonymity alleged.
We gathered that the minister’s alleged insistence on discarding the report of Drexel and adopting his own brought him and the former Secretary of the Civil Defence, Immigration, Prisons and Fire Service Board, Dr. Attahiru Rufai into confrontation. Consequently, the secretary who was barely six months in a position in which he was expected to last four years was removed.
“The crisis between them reached boiling point recently following Comrade Moro’s insistence to force his handpicked candidates for promotion at the expense of those whose names were duly approved by the board, following a promotion examination conducted by a consultancy firm Drexel Consult”, our source further disclosed.
The minister, it was further learnt, did not only try to impose his candidates for promotion, he also presented a list of names that is far in excess of the official slots, and when the then secretary of the board rejected such illegality, the minister spoiled for war which led to the removal of Dr. Rufai.
With the publication of the list of “undeserving” but promoted officers last Wednesday, tension became palpable. Some officers who spoke to our reporter on Thursday expressed dismay at the actions of the minister.
“It is even most amazing that the same minister has now awarded the contract for recruiting fresh officers to the same Drexel. If he did not accept their report on promotions, what guarantee do we have that he will accept their report on who should be recruited and who should not”, one of our sources asked rhetorically while interacting with our reporter.
When our reporter contacted the Special Assistant to the interior minister on Media, George Udoh, he declined comments on the matter, insisting that only the board can speak on the controversy.
But our reporter who visited the board’s office near the interior ministry three times from last Friday to yesterday, was denied access to the office of the secretary by security operatives in the premises.
Source: People’s Daily
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