EXTRA: Ex-official narrates how he remitted proceeds of job racketeering to FCC boss

Haruna Kolo, a former staff of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) has alleged that job seekers paid millions of naira into his personal accounts for him to take to Muheeba Dankaka, chairman of the agency.

Kolo spoke on Monday while appearing before the investigative hearing of the house of representatives ad hoc committee probing job racketeering in federal ministries, departments and agencies of government.

Kolo, who now works with the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), said Dankaka appointed him as her chief protocol officer, while he was serving at FCC.

He told the panel that he was never involved in selling job offers, adding that he only acted on the instructions of Dankaka.

“The money is always sent to my account which I subsequently cashed to remit in cash,” Kolo said.

“My going to AMCON was her personal favour to me and others that left FCC at the time.

However, Dankaka denied the allegation, noting that it was a conspiracy between Kolo and the other commissioners of the commission to tarnish her image.

Subsequently, Dankaka brought out a copy of the Holy Qur’an to swear that she never collected money from Kolo as proceeds of job racketeering.

Meanwhile, Yusuf Gagdi, chairman of the panel, said the committee is in possession of evidence that Kolo had N38.5 million in his account, which he withdrew from point of sale (POS) terminals.

He said the sum of N75 million was in Kolo’s accounts in Access Bank, UBA and Eco Bank as proceeds of job racketeering

“Kolo was serving as a front for collecting money for job recruitments in the commission as against the service, financial regulation and the extant law,” Gagdi said.

“This committee will have to be judicial in nature. We knew why we asked Kolo to give us evidence. We must come out straight; we aren’t even talking about racketeering in other MDAs.

“Kolo you are not supposed to leave here without being arrested. As a civil servant, you are not supposed to have such a huge amount in your account.”