Mr. Paradang, who was Controller-General between June 2013 and August 2015, was testifying as the first prosecution witness in the trial of former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro. Mr. Moro is accused of defrauding over 700,000 applicants and collecting nearly N1 million for the recruitment test. Despite the huge amount collected, the exercise was poorly organized across Nigeria resulting in deadly stampedes. Testifying for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Wednesday, Mr. Paradang told the court that although he was aware that he had come to testify about the 2014 recruitment, he had no prior knowledge of the exercise. The former Immigration boss said he was shocked by a publication informing Nigerians about the entrance exams. “I was surprised about the recruitment exercise because I was not aware of it,” he said. He accused the former minister, Mr. Moro, who supervised the Nigeria Immigration, of hijacking the exercise. “Then I asked him, ‘it would have been fair enough for you to inform the head of the service that you were recruiting’. At least in the service we have a delegated authority to recruit from a certain cadre,” Mr. Paradang stated. Mr. Moro’s trial began Wednesday, after a long break following the stepping down of the former judge who handled the matter. The judge, Anwuli Chikere, stood down in April and the matter was reassigned to Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the same court. The case has been adjourned to Friday.]]>