Job Seekers Are To Blame For Stampede At Immigration Centres - Abba Moro

Nigeria’s interior minister, Abba Moro, has denied responsibility for the deaths of more than a dozen job applicants at Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment centres across the country Saturday. Mr. Moro said the job seekers were to blame for the stampede that killed over 13 applicants.

Angry Nigerians have called for the minister’s resignation, alongside the comptroller of Immigration Service, after seven applicants died in stampedes in Abuja, while at least four died in Port Harcourt and two slumped and died in Minna, Niger State.

Unconfirmed reports say the total figure of casualties is higher. Hundreds of thousands of applicants arrived at test centres in all the 36 states and Abuja, leading to stampedes. At 1,000 per candidate, the Immigration Service would have pocketed at least N520 million based on the total figure of applicants provided by the Interior minister, Mr. Moro.

The examination which took place on Saturday turned bloody in several places including Abuja, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Minna in Niger State.  According to reports alot of phantomapplicants have already received their employment letters even before the exercise was conducted on Saturday.

Following the deaths across the country during Saturday’s job recruitment exercise; several Nigerians have called for the dismissal of Abba Moro, Nigeria’s Interior Minister.

Their petition, issued Sunday, also called for the dismissal of David Parradang, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, as well as the criminal prosecution of the duo for involuntary homicide.

The petition was signed by Chidi Odinkalu, Chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission; Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory; Ayo Obe, lawyer and human rights activist; Bashir Tofa, former Presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention; Aliyu Modibbo, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Teritory and 57 others.

“The Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and the Inspector-General of Police together with the Director-General of State Security, should launch a joint criminal investigation into the deaths of these job seekers. 

PT.