The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Friday, clarified that President Muhammadu Buhari suspended the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS), David Parradang, for unauthorized recruitment into the Service.
Adesina, who replied Vanguard’s enquiry in a Short Message Service (SMS), dispelled insinuations in some quarters that Parradang was suspended because an ISIS chief, Ahmed Al Assir, got entry visa at the Nigerian embassy in Lebanon to visit Nigeria.
He said: “The suspension of Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS), David Parradang, today (Friday), was not connected to the probe of how the ISIS chief got the Nigerian visa but for unauthorized recruitment into the Immigration Service.”
Recall that Parradang was appointed into office in June 2013 for a four-year tenure.
He was also indicted in the recruitment scandal which led to the death of at least 19 job seekers across Nigeria, during a nationwide recruitment test conducted by the NIS, on Saturday, March 16, 2014.
Millions of job seekers who reportedly paid the sum of N1,000 as application fee, had thronged venues of the exercise, mostly stadia.
Earlier, a statement signed by the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Interior, Mr Yusuf Isiaka Alhaji, on behalf of the permanent secretary of the ministry, yesterday in Abuja, said the Federal Government had suspended from office the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr. Parradang, with immediate effect.
The statement said the Deputy Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr Martin Kure Abeshi, has been directed to take over the affairs of the office.
Abeshi is the most senior officer after Parradang, the statement added.