The Federal Character Commission (FCC) has filed four-count charges against the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its comptroller-general Bashir Adeniyi for allegedly failing to provide information on its 2025 recruitment exercise.
The FCC instituted the criminal charges against NCS (first defendant) and Adeniyi (second defendant) at the Federal High Court in Abuja, according to a charge sheet marked FHC/ABJ/CR/772/2026, and dated November 12.
Adeniyi, the FCC alleged in the charge sheet, “failed to furnish” requested information and records relating to the NSC’s 2025/2026 recruitment exercise.
The commission said Adeniyi’s action contravened section 14(3) (b) of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, 2004 and punishable under section 15 of the same Act.
In the second count, the FCC alleged that Adeniyi “failed, refused or neglected to invite and or submit yourself to the Commission to monitor the relevant stage(s)” of the recruitment exercise.
“That you, the Nigeria Customs Service of No. 2 Lake Taal Close, Off Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, and you, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi “M”, of No. 2 Lake Taal Close, Off Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja being Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, between 22nd October, 2026 and 23rd October, 2026 or thereabout, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, failed, refused or neglected to comply with the directive of the Federal Character Commission to suspend the 2026 specified recruitment/training activity pending review; preserve records; permit monitoring, of the letter Ref. No. etc. After receipt FCC/012/S.102/2/VOL.IV/259 dated 23rd October, 2026, authored by the Commission’s Chairman and issued pursuant to section 5 (1) (c) of the of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, LFN 2004, served on the CG, Nigeria Customs Service, you continued with the said exercise in flagrant disregard and disobedience to the lawful directive of the Federal Character Commission directing the Service to suspend recruitment exercise/training exercise, and 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 charge sheet reads.
“That you, the Nigeria Customs Service of No. 2 Lake Taal Close, Off Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, and you, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi “M”, of No. 2 Lake Taal Close, Off Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja being Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, between 30th January, 2026 and 20th October, 2026 or thereabout, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, in relation to 2025/2026 recruitment into the Nigeria Customs Service, failed to produce clear criteria and comprehensive guidelines for determining eligibility for employment, notwithstanding repeated request by the Commission, that you, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi negligently or willfully acquiesced in the service’s failure to produce the criteria and comprehensive guidelines which acts prevented the Commission to determine the states or zonal spread of the vacancies, thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14 (3) (f) 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.”
In July, NCS released the list of successful candidates for its recruitment exercise across three entry cadres: superintendent, inspectorate and customs assistant.
A total of 3,852 candidates were selected out of 573,680 applications.
In September, NCS invited the successful candidates for physical screening and documentation exercise at the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada, Abuja.
Some of the candidates were subsequently invited for training.
However, allegations emerged that some applicants whose names appeared on the successful candidates’ list were screened out and replaced by those who did not participate in the recruitment exercise.
In a statement released on October 19, NCS said it had acknowledged the complaints from applicants who participated in the recruitment exercise.
The agency said 397 applicants were screened out during the screening exercise over issues relating to substance abuse, age, physical fitness, and documentation.
The NCS said some candidates were rejected because of “identified irregularities in their selection process during the screening exercise”.
In October, the FCC called for the suspension of the NCS recruitment exercise over alleged violation of federal character principles.
