The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged Eyimoga Moses, a Nigeria Correctional Services (NCS) officer in Nasarawa, with “job racketeering.”
According to Azuka Ogugua, the ICPC’s spokesperson, Moses was arraigned on Thursday before Abdul Dogo, a federal high court judge in Makurdi, Benue state.
Moses, a superintendent with the NCS’s Nasarawa state command, was charged with one count of corruption for allegedly “collecting N800,000 from a couple for two vacancy slots at the Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa state, which Eyimoga knew was false and, thus, committed an offence contrary to section 1(1) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge, was granted bail, and was remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Service in Makurdi, Benue, until the bail conditions were met.
According to the ICPC, the case has been adjourned until June 20 for trial.
Friday Adodo, general manager of AGB Limited, and Abdulrasheed Yusuf, a businessman and owner of FMateck Limited, were also charged by the commission with forging contract documents.
The defendants were supposed to be arraigned on March 24 on a three-count charge of forging documents in order to bid for a contract at the Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority (LBRBDA) in Makurdi, Benue state.
The alleged offence violates sections 97 of the Penal Code and 58(1) of the Procurement Act of 2007.
“The earlier arraignment did not take place due to the absence of the second defendant, Friday Adogo, which stalled the arraignment, leading the judge, Justice A. Dogo to issue a bench warrant for his arrest for violating court proceedings. The matter was, therefore, adjourned to 28th March 2023,†the ICPC said.
According to an ICPC spokesperson, at the case’s resumed hearing on March 28, the defendants, Yusuf and Adodo, pleaded not guilty to the charge and were granted bail on “stringent conditions.”
The defendants were remanded in custody until they could meet the bail conditions, and the case was rescheduled for a hearing on June 20.