A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the case of former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, and two others to September 29 and 30 for continuation of trial.
Charged along with Moro are the former Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Anastasia Nwobia, and a Deputy Director in the ministry, F. O. Alayabami.
At the resumed hearing on Friday, Paul Erokoro (SAN), a member of the defence team, crossed examined the former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, David Parradang.
Parradang insisted during the cross examination that as the head of the NIS in 2014, he was not aware of the recruitment carried out by the service.
When Erokoro sought to know if the recruitment was initiated by the minister or permanent secretary, he said: “I do not know.”
Parradang had on June 8, while being led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Yusuf Aliyu, told the court that he was not aware of the recruitment exercise.
Parradang, who was the first prosecution witness, told the court that he was shocked when he saw reports in the media about a recruitment by the Service.
He said: “In September, I was referred to a publication in one of the dailies that NIS was recruiting officers into assistant superintendent, inspectorate and assistant inspectorate cadres.
“I was surprised about the recruitment exercise because as a comptroller-general I was not aware of it.”
The former NIS boss had also told the court that there was no budget for the said recruitment.
The NIS conducted recruitment on March 15, 2014 that led to the death of 15 applicants, while several others were wounded.
The Federal Government put Moro on trial over alleged N676 million fraud arising from the exercise.
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