Buhari ‘Weeps’ as Massive Corruption Scandal Hits Tinubu’s Camp

The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, headed by Babatunde Fowler, a protege of Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, has been implicated in a massive corruption scandal.

The Presidency is yet to react to the allegation, pending the arrival of President Muhammadu Buhari from London.

Fowler, is said to have overseen recruitment exercises, in violation of Nigeria’s rules of public advertisement, by illegally employing 3,489 new staff. Also, there are indications that most of those employed, actually bribed their way through the process.

This came barely few months when SaharaReporters uncovered similar recruitment scam by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The FIRS boss, is reported to have contravened the Civil Service Rules in the said employment, by not obeying laid down rules and regulations of the Federal Character Commission.

Fowler, who was appointed last August by Buhari, had previously been accused of indifference to service rules on employment by secretly hiring 250 new staff.

However, his accusers could not make the charge stick, as he claimed those hired are not full-time employees, but consultants.

The list, exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, showed that six of the new recruits are of the position of deputy director, while 10 are assistant directors.

Thirty-four others are of the rank of deputy manager, while the rest are made up of senior managers, managers, assistant managers and junior officers.

“Akwa Ibom State for example, got six slots, while Gombe has 13. Ondo State is a beneficiary of 13 slots. Lagos State, where Fowler hails from, was awarded 14 slots.

“Katsina got 18, Kano 15 and Borno 23. Rivers State was given 14 slots. But in certain cases, the list does not show the States of origin and education qualifications of some of the new staff, making it difficult to know their States of origin and qualifications”, SaharaReporters claimed.

FIRS acting Director of Information, Wahab Gbadamosi, told a news website last week, that relevant agencies of government approved the recruitment.

“Your enquiry on the targeted recruitment at the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS refers. We wish to respond as follows: Please note that requisite agencies of government approved the targeted recruitment by the FIRS. Due Process (in recruiting into a Federal Government Agency) was followed; The FIRS is a conscientious, law abiding institution, which adheres to statutory rules and procedures.

“The FIRS is focused on its duty to collect revenue to fund the national budget, and pleads that it should be allowed to concentrate on its 2016 target of N4.9 trillion,” he was quoted to have responded via email.

Noticeably absent from the mail however, are whether the vacancies were advertised or not, and the names of the relevant agencies that approved the recruitment.

It is still unclear whether the President would order an independent investigation into the recruitment scam, or not.