Recruitment scandal: Our story, by Federal Character Commission

The Management Staff of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) on Thursday in Abuja cleared the air on the allegations levelled against the commission`s Executive Chairman, Mrs Muheeba Dankaka.
Twenty out of the 37 commissioners wrote a petition against Dankaka, accusing her of carrying out a secret recruitment and giving majority slots to her kinsmen from Kwara State.
The 20 aggrieved commissioners, in their petition, alleged that Dankaka unilaterally recruited 22 employees out of which 11 of were from her senatorial district in Kwara.
They alleged this was a breach of the FCC Act and, therefore, requested the intervention of The Presidency.
Briefing the newsmen on the allegations, Mr Vincent Onobun, FCC most Senior Director,  expressed worry over the incident as he noted that it was negatively affecting workers’ performance.
“For some days, the commission was brought to the public domain through allegations on issues ranging from rule of law, due process, guidelines and extant circulars.
“With due respect, the allegations have been written without thorough understanding by the petitioners of the working of government and the guiding rules governing it.
“We are trying to respond to all the allegations that are trending because we are greatly affected by the negative publicity of the incident, “ Onobun said.
According to him, FCC Fifth Board led by the Executive Chairman, Dankaka, assumed office in July 2020 after inauguration by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He pointed out that Mr President`s directive to Dankaka was clear “Ensure you uphold the tenets of fairness, justice and equity.“
According to Onobun, the president’s directive is encapsulated in the FCC Establishment Act.
Speaking further on the recruitment, Onobun explained that the board on assumption of office in July 2020 cancelled the employments which was carried out without due process by her predecessor.
Dankaka, said Onobun,  has  not conducted any recruitment exercise.
He listed some of the controversial areas to include duty allowance, waivers not to advertise, award of N35 million contracts, stepping down of contracts, among others.
“The commission and indeed Nigeria runs Economic Growth Recovery Plan (EGRP), therefore, the issue of the alleged N35 million contracts is part of the rolling plan that commenced in 2018 for which a release was expected in 2019.
“In fact, this was before the new chairmen resumed. Our books are open and anyone in doubt can take the liberty of cross checking these facts, “Onobun explained.