By Muhammed Danjuma Ogwu | Lafia
A deepening employment scandal has rocked Nasarawa State, as syndicates accused of racketeering in the recruitment exercise of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) have confessed to transferring ₦70 million to a corporate account allegedly linked to the former Chairman of the Commission.
The revelations emerged during the ongoing investigation by the Nasarawa State House of Assembly Committee led by Hon. Daniel Oga Ogazi, probing the controversial recruitment of over 4,243 teachers, despite the governor’s approval for only 1,000 slots.
One of the accused, Yamush Amos, an Evaluation Officer in the Ministry of Education, admitted to selling 101 fake employment letters at prices ranging from ₦400,000 to ₦600,000. He disclosed that he remitted ₦40 million to a corporate account provided by Isa Umar, Personal Assistant to the former TSC Chairman.
Another suspect, Bilyyaminu Muhammad Baburo, a classroom teacher at GSS Nakere in Wamba LGA, confessed to selling 200 letters, receiving ₦5 million as commission, and transferring ₦30 million to the same Muzafa Universal corporate account domiciled with Access Bank.
Former TSC Chairman, Mohammed Abubakar Gada, who finally appeared before the committee after multiple summons, admitted to issuing over 4,000 employment letters, blaming “pressure from stakeholders” for violating Governor Abdullahi Sule’s directive to hire only 1,000 teachers.
Despite denying any role in selling the letters, Gada deflected responsibility to the former Commission Secretary, Labaran Shafa, who had earlier admitted to signing 1,965 extra letters on the chairman’s instructions.
The Director of Administration from the Ministry of Education accused Gada of forging the secretary’s signature to issue fake appointments, while a former part-time member of the TSC, Kreki Francis, revealed that he received five slots but none materialised into real jobs—adding that secondary school students were employed during the exercise.
The committee also questioned the Special Adviser to the Governor on Government Affairs, Muhammad Abubakar Muhammad, who submitted 50 names to the TSC despite the governor’s clear stance. He confirmed that some of those on his list received fake letters, and that employment was still ongoing after the former TSC management had been sacked.
Assembly Challenges Consulting Firm, Demands Access Bank Statement
The committee is also scrutinizing the consulting firm hired to screen the 4,243 recruited teachers, challenging their methodology of prioritizing oral interviews over written exams, which led to only 781 being declared qualified.
Describing the evaluation approach as “illogical and unprofessional”, Hon. Ogazi said the committee had directed the Teachers Service Commission to disregard the firm’s report and suspend further actions based on it.
In a bid to verify the ₦70 million transfer claims, the committee has ordered Access Bank to produce the account statements of Muzafa Universal Ltd from January to date.
The former chairman, Gada, told the committee that his health condition may prevent him from complying with a further appearance directive. However, Hon. Ogazi maintained that Gada’s reappearance was essential to “unravel the full extent of the scam”.
The probe, which has shocked many across the state, continues to reveal the depth of corruption and abuse of process in the state’s education sector recruitment—raising serious questions about institutional oversight and governance ethics.