The Federal Character Commission (FCC) has filed a four-count criminal charge against the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi, over alleged breaches of federal character provisions in the agency's 2025/2026 recruitment exercise.

The charge was filed on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, accusing the defendants of failing to provide recruitment records, preventing the commission from monitoring the exercise and disregarding its directive to suspend recruitment and training activities.

In the first count, the commission alleged that the Customs Service failed to submit its nominal rolls for the 2025 recruitment exercise despite receiving a formal request dated March 25, 2026.

It also accused Adeniyi of recklessly, negligently or wilfully allowing the agency to disregard the commission's request, contrary to Section 14(3)(b) of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act.

The second count accused the defendants of failing to invite or submit themselves to the commission for monitoring relevant stages of the recruitment exercise between September 14 and October 7, 2026.

In the third count, the commission alleged that the Customs Service continued recruitment and training activities despite receiving a letter dated October 23, 2026, directing it to suspend the process pending a review.

The fourth count accused the defendants of failing to provide clear eligibility criteria and comprehensive recruitment guidelines despite repeated requests between January 30 and October 20, 2026.

According to the commission, the alleged failure prevented it from determining the state and zonal distribution of vacancies in the exercise.

The charges were brought under Section 14(3) of the Federal Character Commission Act and are punishable under Section 15 of the legislation.

The commission listed three witnesses, including the Chairman of its Committee on Financial Services, Abdulwasiu K. Bawa-Allah, committee member Isa Jibrin Bida and the committee's clerk, Usman Yaruwa.

It also identified 14 documents it intends to tender during the trial, including correspondence between both institutions, a report on the Customs Service and records of the commission's October 22 press conference.

The legal action follows an earlier dispute over the Customs Service's 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, particularly complaints by applicants who claimed they were shortlisted but subsequently excluded from the training programme.

On October 23, the commission had asked the Customs Service to suspend its ongoing recruitment training, alleging that hundreds of candidates who completed screening, documentation and medical examinations were not invited, while some individuals whose names were absent from the published final list allegedly received training invitations.

The commission also questioned whether the recruitment was conducted without its required monitoring and whether the Customs Service obtained a certificate of compliance before issuing training invitations.

The Customs Service had announced that 3,852 candidates were successful out of 573,680 applications received for the exercise.

The final lists for the Superintendent, Inspectorate and Customs Assistant cadres were published between July 28 and 30, 2026.

However, the agency subsequently identified screening issues involving 397 applicants and opened a review process following complaints from candidates who were shortlisted but later disqualified.

Adeniyi had ordered a case-by-case reassessment of the complaints, while the service maintained that appearing on the shortlist did not automatically guarantee enlistment.