Recruitment: Federal Character Commission Drags Customs, CG To Court
The Federal Character Commission has filed a four-count criminal charge against the Nigeria Customs Service and its Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi, over alleged violations of federal character requirements in the Service’s 2025/2026 recruitment exercise.
The charge sheet was filed on Thursday at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The charge accused the Customs Service and Adeniyi of failing to provide recruitment records to the commission, preventing it from monitoring the exercise and disregarding its directive to suspend recruitment and training activities.
In the first count, the commission alleged that the Customs Service failed to submit the nominal rolls for its 2025 recruitment exercise despite receiving a request for the records in a letter dated March 25, 2026.
It also accused Adeniyi of recklessly, negligently or wilfully allowing the Service to disregard the commission’s request.
“That you Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, being an officer of the 1st Defendant, recklessly, negligently or willfully acquiesced in the 1st Defendant’s failure to comply with the directives of the Commission, thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(3) (b) of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, LFN 2004 and punishable under Section 15 of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, LFN 2004,” the first count read.
In the second count, the FCC alleged that the Customs Service and its Comptroller-General failed to invite or submit themselves to the commission for monitoring of relevant stages of the 2025/2026 recruitment exercise between September 14 and October 7, 2026.
The third count accused the defendants of continuing with recruitment and training activities despite receiving a letter dated October 23, 2026, directing the Service to suspend the exercise pending a review.
The commission alleged that the Service disregarded the directive and failed to preserve relevant records and allow its monitoring.
In the fourth count, the FCC accused the defendants of failing to provide clear eligibility criteria and comprehensive recruitment guidelines despite repeated requests between January 30 and October 20, 2026.
It alleged that the failure prevented the Commission from determining the state and zonal distribution of vacancies in the recruitment exercise.
The charges were brought under Section 14(3) of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, and are punishable under Section 15 of the Act.
The commission listed three witnesses, including the Chairman of its Committee on Financial Services, Abdulwasiu K. Bawa-Allah, committee member Isa Jibrin Bida, and clerk of the committee, Usman Yaruwa.
It also listed 14 documents it intends to tender during the trial, including correspondence between the commission and the Customs Service, a report on the Service and records of the commission’s October 22 press conference.
The prosecution said it might call additional witnesses as the court considers necessary.
The charge followed a dispute between the commission and the Customs Service over the conduct of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, particularly complaints by applicants who said they were shortlisted but later excluded from the training programme.
In October 23, the commission asked the Customs Service to suspend its ongoing recruitment training, alleging that hundreds of candidates who completed screening and medical processes were not invited, while some whose names did not appear on the published final list allegedly received training invitations.
The commission also questioned whether the recruitment was conducted without its required monitoring and whether the Customs Service had obtained a certificate of compliance before issuing training invitations.
The Customs Service had announced that 3,852 candidates were successful in the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, out of 573,680 applications received.
The final lists for the Superintendent, Inspectorate and Customs Assistant cadres were published between July 28 and 30, 2026.
However, the Service said it had identified screening issues involving 397 applicants and opened a review process after complaints from candidates who were shortlisted but later disqualified.
In October 19, had Adeniyi ordered a case-by-case reassessment of the complaints, while the Service maintained that appearing on the shortlist did not automatically guarantee enlistment.
