The Judicial Service Commission, NJSC, has terminated the employment of no less than twenty-five members of the Niger State Judiciary over allegations of certificate fraud.
According to Abdulraman Ahmed Garafini, the commission’s secretary in Minna, who confirmed the firings, the 25 employees were let go after the commission evaluated their cases in light of the state’s staff verification committee’s findings at the completion of the committee’s work in the state.
He claims that the Engr Ibrahim Panti committee on staff verification, which was established by Niger State governor Abubakar Sani Bello in 2021, found that the judicial employees’ certifications were fake and recommended that they be fired from their positions.
Garafini revealed, “When the NJSC forwarded the certificates to the schools they claimed to have attended, it was discovered that the certificates were forged”.
It was further gathered that the dismissed workers were mostly of the junior and intermediate staff cadre.
Similarly, a Shariah Court Judge and his Court Registrar were said to have been dismissed for allegedly diverting money from sales of inheritance estates to the tune of N400m belonging to a popular family in the state.
It was gathered that the duo were made administrators of the properties in question to sell and share the proceeds to heirs of the deceased head of the family
Garafini explained that the family of the deceased had petitioned the Shariah Court judge and the registrar, to the office of the Grand Khadi who in turn forwarded it to the NJSC for determination and the two were found wanting leading to their dismissal.