A recently dismissed official of the Kwara State command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has been arrested by the state police command for allegedly duping four people in an employment scam.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday, state Commandant of the corps, Mr Pedro Ideba, identified the suspected official as Yusuf Kazeem, saying he was dismissed two months ago following investigations into petitions against him on the scam.
Ideba said Kazem’s family had also made an undertaking to repay the amount collected by their son from his victims as he warned members of the public not to fall prey to any one giving out employment letters into the corps.
The commandant said that as at now there was no employment into the NSCDC.
Kazeem was alleged to have collected about N400, 000 from his victims with a promise to get them a job in the security outfit.
“Two months ago, one Yusuf Kazeem was arrested by us, queried, interrogated and a panel was set against him and following the outcome of the panel the officer was dismissed. The officer in question was reported to the national headquarters who directed that he be dismissed and the people he had duped were profiled and as a responsible organisation we are making sure that he returns their money.
“That is where we are now but the man has been dismissed. The corps has zero tolerance for corruption. As we normally say, if you take bribe you will die; we don’t condone any indiscipline in the corps.
“He collected money from four persons. He is not my staff. He has been dismissed. He was even locked up at the national headquarters for more than a month. We have retrieved our ID card from him. He has a case file here; the family has come here and given undertaking to pay back the money as directed by the national headquarters.
“At the moment we are not recruiting. This information we have passed to the pubic severally, that nobody should pay money to anyone, the corps has not received money to carry out recruitment; if and when we do the public would be properly informed. So if anyone is paying money to people that in itself is criminal act”, he said.
The NSCDC boss also revealed that six of his staff who recently engaged in sporadic shooting during a fracas with some phone vendors in Ilorin, the state capital, had been detained to allow for more investigation.
The affected officials were said to have shot into the air to rescue their colleague who was allegedly about to be lynched by an angry mob at the popular Computer Village following an altercation between the NSCDC official and a phone vendor.
“On Wednesday at about 5 pm, I got information that one of our staff left office on his own, without pass. He sneaked out of office and later had fracas with phone vendors. We are aware the vendors are into union and they try to protect themselves but they failed to handle the situation amicably and the officer also failed to handle himself properly by first assaulting the vendor and that was what led to a mob action against him.
“That was what led to the Civil Defence Corps coming to rescue the man and in the process they were being stoned and that was when they fired to scare the people. The police also came and shot into the air when they heard the first shooting, thinking that it was an armed robbery incident but it was eventually put under control.
“The matter is also not dead because there are measures to be taken against you for shooting without approval. As I speak to you now, for releasing bullet without approval, the people are in detention. You can’t just say because you have weapon you can use it. There were six of them and we are trying them, including the man that even caused the mayhem because he went out without proper documentation and the people who went there to go and help their colleague and shot into the air without approval.”
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