House of Reps to probe ‘illegal’ secret recruitment of 909 persons into CBN

The alleged secret recruitment 909 employees by the Central Bank of Nigeria, will be investigated by the Federal House of Representatives.The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has been alleged to have given juicy appointments to children and relatives of highly placed individuals in the federal government and in the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

Among those that allegedly got the job appointments include: the daughter of former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, a son of Mamman Daura, a nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari and a very close associate of the President, a son of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, a daughter of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’aba.

Also listed was the daughter of of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, a son of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Abdurahman Danbazzau and at least 86 others.During Thursday’s session which was presided over by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, the House asked its Committees on Federal Character, Banking/Currency to complete the investigation into the alleged recruitment within three weeks.

Aliyu Madaki, an APC lawmaker from Kano, had said: “The recruitment by the CBN is in breach of the Federal Character Principle as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”“The recruitment breached section 14(1); 14(3); and Section 17(1) of the constitution. There was no fairness, no justice in this exercise conducted by the CBN.”

Dogara had earlier overruled any debate on the issue on the grounds that it could pre-judge the outcome of the investigation.He had said: “This is an investigation; let us not allow any debate so that we won’t pre-empt the outcome.”