Job racketeering: I collected millions for FCC chair, suspect tells reps

A desk officer of the Federal Character Commission, Haruna Kolo, yesterday in Abuja confessed to have received millions of Naira from job-seekers on behalf of the chairman of the FCC, Muheeba Dankaka.

He confessed this to an ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating the alleged job racketeering and abuse of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) by ministries, departments and agencies.

Kolo said, “On the allegations of job racketeering, the FCC chairman instructed me to liaise with one Mr Shehu who is a personal driver and PA to the Taraba State’s Commissioner.

“As a desk officer, I’m responsible to take whoever is employed to IPPIS for capturing, no one can go there without a letter from the chairman or Human Resource officer of FCC.

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“When she came, she wrote a letter to the Accountant-General instructing that no letter from FCC should be honored except she signs the letter. So, whenever there were new employments, she signs, gives to me and I take to the Accountant-General’s office for capturing.

“Shehu is the one that brought those who paid monies to my account for jobs, some paid N1m; others, N1.5m, all to my personal account, my Ecobank account. She asked me to give cash to her which I did through PoS. So, there’s no evidence of transfer or anything”.

Earlier, the chairman of the committee, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, said the panel had obtained complete records of Kolo’s bank records and discovered that at a point, he had a total of N75m lodged in his Access, Eco and UBA Bank accounts by individuals that benefitted from the racketeered jobs in the FCC.

Responding, Dankaka said she neither received money from Kolo nor was involved in job racketeering.

She said: “I’ve not, in my life, asked him to collect money, I don’t know the driver they’re talking about, I’ve never set eyes on the driver.

“Qur’an is here. He is here, I’ve never asked him to give me one naira. What he does for me is when we go to the airport, he buys ticket for me. He does not come to my house to give money. I stay in an estate, before you enter, I must give a go-ahead for you to enter”.

The committee directed Kolo and two other persons to appear before it today for details of their involvement.