The group in the letter dated April 28, 2023, signed by Ayodeji Ologun and addressed to President Buhari through the Minister of Interior, threatened to picket the office of Immigration and the Ministry of Interior on a daily basis until their demands were met.
The Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria (CCSGN) has written to President Muhammadu Buhari, demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Isah Idris Jere, over his refusal to leave office after the expiration of his one-year extension in office.
The group in the letter dated April 28, 2023, signed by Ayodeji Ologun and addressed to President Buhari through the Minister of Interior, threatened to picket the office of Immigration and the Ministry of Interior on a daily basis until their demands were met.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how the Buhari government approved the extension of the tenure of Isah Idris Jere as the Acting Controller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service despite attaining his retirement age.
The NIS boss, whose official retirement date was April 24, 2022, having attained the age of 60 as stipulated by civil service rules, continued to preside over the affairs of the agency for at least one more year.
Despite being fully aware of Jere's status as already being pencilled down for retirement last week, President Buhari, like in the past, ignored all laid down rules to unlawfully elongate his tenure, thereby denying other officers in the NIS a chance to move up the ladder.
SaharaReporters on April 19 also reported that following the expiration of his initial one-year extension, as well as the dust raised by several Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), which warned the Presidency against considering Jere, Buhari retired Jere and directed him to hand over to the most senior Deputy Comptroller General on or before the 24th of April 2023.
However, Jere disobeyed the President’s directive as he still remained in the office while he was allegedly seeking multiple extensions of his tenure – a move the coalition group has warned should not be allowed to stand.
The letter seen by SaharaReporters read, “The Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria as underlisted and signed, is a group of persons dedicated to the promotion of probity, accountability and transparency in governance, is writing your office to request that act of corruption ongoing at the Nigerian Immigration Service be looked into and justice done.
“Your Excellency, going by a letter from the office of your Chief of Staff, the tenure of the Acting CG statutorily ended on the 24th of April 2022 but by the decision of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as so accorded by the law, his tenure was elongated by a year.
“Relying on the letter of extension as signed, the one year elongation ends on the 24th of April 2023 and by a letter from the office of the honourable Minister of Interior, the Acting CG. Isah Idris Jere was directed to handover to the most senior Deputy Comptroller General on or before the 24th of April 2023, an order that he, Jere erroneously disobeyed.
“This is an act of gross disobedience and corruption and it cannot be allowed to stand.
“While we call for immediate arrest and prosecution of Mr Isah Dere, we also want to reiterate that no attempt should be made to erroneously extend his tenure, not even by a day following the order to hand over and the fact of his official retirement.
“Allowing this act of gross misconduct will not only dampen the morale of officers and men of the Immigration Service but will also be setting a bad precedence in the Nation's civil service.
“Your Excellency, as a civil society organization with whom you have the responsibility to foster support in combating corruption, we bring this to your notice and ask that you act in the defence of our law and its provisions.
“While we do not threaten your office, we wish to state that if by resumption of work on Tuesday May 2, 2023, a new Comptroller General of Immigration does not resume office, we shall on a daily basis protest at both the office of Immigration and the Ministry Interior until the needful is done.”