How Federal Character Commission chairwoman Farida Dankaka sold MDA jobs to jobseekers: Officials

Federal Character Commission (FCC) commissioners have accused the organisation’s chairwoman Farida Dankaka of ”selling jobs” in federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

The commissioners made the allegations during the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating MDAs and parastatal and tertiary institutions on employment racketeering in Abuja.

The FCC commissioners who made the allegations included Abdulrasaq Adeoye (Osun), James Dan’iya (Kwara), Abdulwasiu Bawa-Allah (Lagos), Moses Anaughe (Delta), Mamman Alakayi (Nasarawa), among others.

The commissioners also alleged that Ms Dankaka connived with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to stop a petition written against her on job racketeering by the commissioners.

“We petitioned the EFCC to investigate her, but to our dismay, nothing has been done. Jobseekers pay as low s N750,000 and as high as N7 million depending on the MDAs where the jobs are being sought. The money from the various accounts is transferred into the main account in Access Bank,” they told the committee.

The commissioners alleged that the chairman often moved her son from one lucrative agency to another.

In a swift reaction to the barrage of allegations, Ms Dankaka said, “When you fight corruption, corruption will fight back.”

The embattled FCC chair added, “I did not come to make money but to serve my fatherland. What some of them are looking for is money. Before I came here, I had made my money. Some of them have their reasons for attacking me. For instance, the Osun commissioner is always in my office. What they are accusing me of is not true.”

Ms Dankaka said before she assumed office in July 2020, all the commissioners were “selling jobs,” adding that her refusal to join the fray spurred their anger against her.

According to her, for instance, the commissioner representing Osun bought a property and told the person that he would repay with job slots.

According to her, this necessitated her letters to MDAs that they should not honour any letter from commissioners if they did not see her signature.

The FCC chairwoman said she refused their offer to compromise, adding that she would be the last person to sell jobs and that the commissioners were behind campaigns of calumny in the media and on social media.

On the issue of EFCC, she said the agency wanted to employ personnel and got the approval, adding that at no time did she compromise.

The house committee chair, Gagdi Yusuf, said the legislators would not be part of the politics of any agencies.

“We will do our job, and justice will be done,” stated Mr Gagdi.

He queried why documents relating to the commission’s activities in terms of employment would be allegedly missing.

Meanwhile some commissioners in the Federal Character Commission, FCC, have accused the chairman of the commission, Mrs Farida Dankaka, of collecting money in dollars for jobs in federal Ministries, Department and Agencies, MDAs.

Some of the commissioners who made the allegations include Mr Abdulrasaq Adeoye, representing Osun State; James Dan’iya, Kwara State; Abdulwasiu Bawa-Allah, Lagos State; Moses Anaughe, Delta State; and Barr. Mamman Alakayi, Nasarawa State, among others.

The commissioners in some documents submitted to the committee, also alleged that Dankaka often connived with MDAs to collect 10 per cent kickback for job offered.

They equally alleged that Dankaka connived with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to stop petition written against her on job racketeering by them.

“We petitioned the EFCC to investigate her but to our dismay, nothing has been done after the former chairman of the commission, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, met with her. “

They claimed that Dankaka’s sister was also used in job racketeering, while providing details of account numbers and bank statements job seekers made payments to.

The commissioners claimed that many of the job seekers who had paid could not get job as promised by Dankaka.

“When the jobs were not forthcoming, the victims reacted and the Department of State Services, DSS, had to be invited

“The money from the various account are transferred into the main account in a new gegeration bank, owned by one Auwal Kundi, where the money is allegedly changed into dollars for alleged onward transfer to Dankaka,” the commissioners alleged

They alleged further that the chairman often moved her son from one agency to the other, adding that she initially secured a job for his son at the Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, and later transfered him to the Downstream Regulatory Commission.

The commissioners also alleged that the chairman had severally sold job slots to some Nigerians, saying she had canceled 24 employments initially offered to some Nigerians only to replace them with her own candidates.

In the document submitted to the panel, they claimed that the 24 people she replaced them with were now ghost workers.