The Federal Character Commission (FCC) has filed a four-count criminal charge against the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its Comptroller-General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, over alleged breaches of federal character requirements in the Service’s 2025/2026 recruitment exercise.
The charge, filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, accused the defendants of withholding recruitment records, frustrating the commission’s monitoring efforts and disregarding its directive to suspend recruitment and training activities.
In the first count, the FCC alleged that the Nigeria Customs Service failed to submit the nominal rolls for its 2025 recruitment exercise despite a formal request dated March 25, 2026. It also accused Adeniyi of recklessly, negligently or willfully allowing the Service to ignore the request.
The second count alleged that the defendants failed to submit themselves to the commission’s monitoring of relevant stages of the 2025/2026 recruitment exercise between September 14 and October 7, 2026.
In the third count, the commission accused the NCS of continuing recruitment and training activities despite receiving a letter dated October 23, 2026, directing it to suspend the exercise pending a review. It further alleged that the defendants failed to preserve relevant records and facilitate its monitoring.
The fourth count accused the defendants of failing to provide clear eligibility criteria and comprehensive recruitment guidelines despite repeated requests between January 30 and October 20, 2026. The commission said this prevented it from determining the state and zonal distribution of vacancies.
The charges were filed under Sections 14(3) and 15 of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
The commission listed three witnesses namely the Chairman of its Committee on Financial Services, Abdulwasiu K. Bawa-Allah; committee member, Isa Jibrin Bida; and the committee’s clerk, Usman Yaruwa.
It also listed 14 documents for tendering during the trial, including correspondence with the Nigeria Customs Service, a report on the service and records of its October 22 press conference. The prosecution reserved the right to call additional witnesses.
The legal action follows a protracted dispute between the commission and the NCS over recruitment irregularities, particularly complaints by applicants who claimed they were shortlisted but later excluded from the training programme.
On October 23, the FCC directed the NCS to suspend its ongoing recruitment training, alleging that hundreds of candidates who completed screening and medical examinations were excluded, while some applicants whose names were absent from the published final list allegedly received training invitations.
The commission also questioned whether the recruitment exercise had been properly monitored and whether the Customs Service obtained the required certificate of compliance before issuing training invitations.
The service had announced that 3,852 candidates emerged successful from 573,680 applications in the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
The final lists for the Superintendent, Inspectorate and Customs Assistant cadres were published between July 28 and 30, 2026. However, the NCS later acknowledged screening concerns involving 397 applicants and initiated a review following complaints from candidates who were shortlisted but subsequently disqualified.
