Shortlisted candidates for the newly established Kwara State Forest Guard have raised an alarm over alleged irregularities within the recruitment course of.
The candidates are accusing the state authorities of purging the unique record of certified candidates to make room for loyalists of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The controversy facilities on the continuing screening train on the Hajj Camp in Ilorin, the place potential guards are being vetted for the safety outfit.
Based on the aggrieved individuals, many skilled candidates who beforehand served as neighborhood vigilantes have seen their names “disappeared with out clarification” regardless of assembly the preliminary merit-based standards.
The candidates claimed that the recruitment was bought to the general public as an expert drive to have interaction these with native safety expertise. Nevertheless, the truth on the bottom suggests a shift towards political patronage.
“From the start, they advised us the choice was for individuals who had expertise as vigilantes or had volunteered to guard their communities,” one of many affected candidates acknowledged.
He lamented that the sudden disappearance of their names has left many who deserted their farms and trades in a state of despair.
Additional allegations counsel that among the new recruits being ushered into the camp didn’t take part within the formal software course of.
Witnesses declare these people overtly boasted about being “known as” by get together chieftains and high-ranking officers inside Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s administration.
The disgruntled candidates warned that substituting skilled woodsmen with political appointees poses a big threat to state safety.
They argued that the Forest Guard was supposed to fight banditry, unlawful mining, and kidnapping—duties that require deep data of the native terrain moderately than political affiliation.
“In the event you recruit individuals primarily based on politics as an alternative of competence, the entire goal of the forest guard is defeated,” a supply remarked. “Individuals who have by no means stood guard or chased criminals from their communities had been introduced in simply because they’re get together loyalists.”
The priority stays {that a} weakened safety outfit could fail to guard rural communities already weak to incursions by armed {groups}.
Nevertheless, as on the time of submitting this report, the Kwara State Authorities has but to concern a proper rebuttal.