The Nasarawa State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested a 21-year-old man for being in possession of a firearm in one of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) centres in the state.
The state commandant of the NSCDC, Bashir Lawal told journalists in Lafia on Friday that the suspect was arrested at the Nasarawa State Polytechnic centre during a search at the entrance to the examination hall.
He said the suspect was arrested on Tuesday after he was found to be in possession of a locally-made pistol and two rounds of live ammunition.
He said upon interrogation, the suspect confessed that someone gave him the gun for safekeeping.
He said that the suspect would be arraigned for illegal possession of firearms, adding that even registered guns were not allowed at examination centres.
He also said the command had arrested one Mohammed Alakayi from Doma Local Government Area of the state for allegedly posing as a recruitment agent for the NSCDC.
According to him, the command has received several complaints from the public over alleged cases of fake recruitment.
“We have had reports of some criminal elements posing as our recruitment agents and following our intelligence, we arrested the suspect with the full uniform of NSCDC and fake recruitment forms,” he said.
He said that five witnesses had testified that the suspect collected between N4,000 and N15,000 each from them under the pretence that he was going to get them a job with the command.
“We are therefore charging him to court for impersonation and fraud as soon as the the investigation is completed, ”he said.
He, however, appealed to job seekers, especially those willing to join the NSCDC, to be watchful and disregard any information concerning recruitment coming from any other source apart from the command or its headquarters.
