Applicants sue Immigration, seek refund of recruitment fee

FOUR persons acting for themselves and as representatives of those who participated in the ill-fated Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise Thursday asked the Federal High Court, Abuja, to declare the conduct or execution of the recruitment exercise illegal, unwarranted and in violation of their fundamental rights to life.
   They also want the court to order the defendants to refund their application fee. The plaintiffs brought the application under Sections 33, 34, and 44 of the 1999 Constitution (amended) and the equivalent articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right.
   Joined as respondents in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, the Nigerian Immigration Service and its Comptroller General, David Shikfu Parradang.
   The applicants, Charles Ugwuonye, Friday Danlami, Chinedu Onwuka and Samson Ojo, through their counsel, Emeka Ugwuonye, want the court, among others, to declare the recruitment exercise illegal and restrain the NIS from spending the money realised from the exercise.
   They also want the court to order the respondents to refund the recruitment fee to the applicants, pay the sum of N1 million to each and N50 million to the deceased applicants as general damages.
   They further asked the court to declare that the conduct or execution of the recruitment exercise was in violation of the applicants’ fundamental rights to life, protection from inhuman and degrading treatment, dignity of the human person, right against discrimination on the basis of the circumstances of birth and right against unlawful taking of the property of a person.
   The applicants prayed for a declaration that the respondents, particularly the Minister of Interior and NIS Comptroller General owed them honesty and candour regarding the true purpose and intention behind the exercise.
   They also sought a declaration that the respondents, particularly the Minister of Interior and NIS Comptroller General had a duty to superintend the recruitment exercise in a safe and healthy manner with due consideration for lives and wellbeing of those who applied for or participated in the exercise, among others.
   Also, the applicants sought a declaration that the 2014 recruitment exercise was motivated by greed and corrupt intentions and without any realistic plan to offer the applicants employments.
   More so, they want a declaration that the respondents do not have the power to appropriate any funds from the recruitment exercise but must remit such to the Federation Account.
   The applicants further sought an interim and perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from spending any part of the funds raised from the exercise. In addition, the court should direct the respondents to issue them a written apology, which should be published in five Nigerian newspapers and on the main website of the NIS.