Six candidates from the northern region have been arrested for attempting to secure Lagos State slots in the Nigerian Army recruitment process.
As gathered by Quest Times, a viral video emerged on Wednesday, revealing the candidates who hailed from Kaduna State falsely claiming Lagos origin, triggering an outcry from Lagosians who felt cheated in the recruitment process.
This made the Lagos State Government demand their arrest and trial for perjury.
Commissioner for Information Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, in a telephone chat with newsmen on Wednesday, stressed the criminality of such attempts.
Moreover, the Nigerian Army, in a statement by Maj. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, confirmed the arrests, emphasizing the transparency of their recruitment process.
The statement read in part, “The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a circulating video on social media depicting the arrest of some fraudulent candidates of the ongoing 86 Regular Recruits Intake, who were caught attempting to short-change indigenous candidates of Lagos State through dubious means.
“The NA wishes to state that the arrest of the fraudulent candidates was a result of the commitment of the NA to upholding a transparent and credible recruitment process in line with its core values of integrity and fairness. The video is a pointer to one of the processes to which the candidates were subjected to ensure only true indigenes of a particular State are recruited, using the slots of that state and non-indigenes.”
The Army has vowed a thorough investigation to identify fraudulent activities and those behind the act, assuring the public that justice will be served.
Maj.-Gen. Tajudeen Olanrewaju (retd.) called for Governor Sanwo-Olu and Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja to investigate the violation of constitutional rights in what he deemed “procedurally wrong and democratically unacceptable.”
Olanrewaju also proposed an autonomous ‘Verification System Unit’ to prevent abuses in Lagos State slots allocation, emphasizing collective action and political willpower.