The Federal Character Commission has filed a four-count criminal charge against the Nigeria Customs Service and its Comptroller-General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, over alleged violations of federal character requirements in the Service's 2025/2026 recruitment exercise. The charge sheet, sighted by PUNCH Online, was filed on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, and the FCC has moved to prosecute the Service and its chief under the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act.

The first count alleges that the Customs Service failed to submit nominal rolls for its 2025 recruitment exercise despite a request in a letter dated March 25, 2026, and that Adeniyi recklessly, negligently or wilfully allowed the Service to disregard the commission's request. The second count accuses the Service and its Comptroller-General of failing to submit themselves to the commission for monitoring of relevant stages of the exercise between September 14 and October 7, 2026. A third count says recruitment and training continued despite an October 23, 2026 letter directing the Service to suspend the exercise pending review, with relevant records not preserved. The fourth count alleges repeated requests for clear eligibility criteria and comprehensive guidelines, made between January 30 and October 20, 2026, went unmet, preventing the commission from determining the state and zonal distribution of vacancies.S1

The FCC has listed three witnesses for the trial, including the Chairman of its Committee on Financial Services, Abdulwasiu K. Bawa-Allah, committee member Isa Jibrin Bida, and committee clerk Usman Yaruwa. It also intends to tender 14 documents, including correspondence between the commission and the Customs Service, a report on the Service, and records of the commission's October 22 press conference.S1