The Nigerian Army has arrested some northern candidates who attempted to impersonate Lagos indigenes for slots in its recruitment process.
A video that went viral on Wednesday showed the candidates, who were from Kaduna State but claimed to have hailed from the Kosofe Local Government Area, Lagos Island Local Government Area, and Oshodi Isolo Local Government Area in Lagos State.
The candidates had claimed to be from the areas to secure recruitment slots meant for indigenes of Lagos State thereby shortchanging citizens.
This arrest was disclosed by the Director of Army Public Relations, Maj. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, who said that the arrest of the northerners was proof of the transparency and credibility of the recruitment system.
The statement read, “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 video in itself, therefore, clearly shows that the process is transparent, as the State Representative, who is a prominent member of the recruitment team has been part and parcel of the process and was given unhindered access to do her job by scrutinising the candidates’ State of origin, to ascertain the genuineness of their indigeneship claims.”
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, stated that his office was yet to receive the report, but asked that the culprits should be arrested and tried if guilty.
“We don’t have the report yet. But it is criminal to attempt to claim that you are from Lagos when you are not. It is what the police should take up, arrest the said candidates and try them,” Omotoso said, stating that “it is perjury and is punishable under the law of the land.”