JOSHUA EGBODO revisits the emotional first leg of the probe session of alleged killing of some innocent persons in the Iseyin area of Oyo state, by men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)
Back from the Eidel Maulud break on May 18, 2021, attention of the House of Representatives was drawn to the reported killing of some innocent persons in the Iseyin area of Oyo state, by men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), who were said to be on the trail of some rice smugglers. The house was later to give its committee on Customs the mandate to investigate the allegation.
The motion
Bringing up a motion under matters of urgent public importance, the member representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola federal constituency of Oyo state under which the town of incidence fell, Hon. Shina Peller, told his colleagues that men of the NCS were reportedly chasing smugglers in an SUV loaded with foreign rice, and in the process engaged the suspects in a sporadic shooting, and extra judicially gunned down five innocent persons.
He noted that under Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which deals with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy; “it shall be the duty of all organs of government and of all authorities and persons, exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of this chapter of this Constitution”, which stressed that the security of lives and property of the citizens remain the primary purpose of government, expressing dismay on the action of the men.
Peller recalled that on Thursday 13th of May, 2021 the men of Nigerian Custom Service, according to eye witnesses, were in pursuit of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) conveying bags of rice when they started shooting sporadically and in the process five people were killed. “It was a sad day as the people were celebrating the EID-El-FITRI in the Oja Oba area of the ancient town”, he said.
He gave names of the killed victims to include Oluwatobi, Timothy, Wasiu, Abdulazee Abdullahi and Umar Abu, while insisting that “this act of the men of the Nigerian Customs Service shows total negligence, abuse of authority, gross misconduct and disregard for human lives. In his opinion, if the men involved were properly cautioned and trained in the process of recruitment, bearing in mind that they carry arms, these tragedies would have been avoided. “Killings by custom officers in the guise of pursuing smugglers is a recurring saga in the country and something must be done urgently to put an end to it.”
He, therefore, prayed the House for a resolution to among other things, launch an investigation into the unfortunate incident through its committee on the Customs, and to urge the federal government to review the rules of engagement of men of the NCS. “Relevant questions must be asked; are bags of rice worth more than human lives? Even if they were smugglers, must the custom officers open fire on them? Must they pursue smugglers? These and many more questions need to be asked to forestall a future occurrence”, he had submitted.
Emotions as probe begins
It was an emotions-laden environment when last Tuesday, when the Hon. Leke Abejide-led House of Representatives Committee on the Customs commenced investigative hearing into the alleged development. Tears flowed down faces of relatives of the persons reportedly killed by operatives of the NCS. This was provoked by the blanket denial of the said killings. Assistant Legal Adviser to the Nigeria Customs Service, Umar Lawal made repeated attempts at absolving the NCS of being responsible for the death of anybody. Speaking at the hearing, leader of the Iseyin community delegation, Alhaji Kasaki Tijani informed the panel that five members of his community were killed after 50 villages away from the border, and stated that the victims were not smugglers. “Those killed were not smugglers. We are not saying customs or any other government agency should not do its job, but they came into the town to shoot innocent people,” he said. He also expressed dismay that the officers went past 50 towns before coming to Iseyin, more than 200 kilometres from the border.
“But they came into the town where the people do not know what is going on between the NCS and the smugglers, they killed five persons instantly and some survived gunshot injuries. This is not the first time this is happening in the town, we can count two to three incidents and that is why the community head said it is enough.
“Those killed are survived by wives, children and dependents. They are not smugglers. We are praying this committee to look into the matter deeply to see how customs can perform their functions so that it won’t affect the people and all the surrounding towns.
“We do not know how the officers were performing their duty that the smuggled goods crossed almost 50 towns before coming to Iseyin, about 200 kilometres from the border. We want compensation for the deceased because they have dependents, we pray this committee to help us ensure those affected are compensated.”
In his opinion, the incident should not have happened in Iseyin, as Customs’ operations should not exceed 40km from the border. This was, however, countered by an Acting Deputy Comptroller General, Etom Edorhe who represented the Controller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali at the hearing, explaining that the Service is not limited to carrying out operations away from the borders and it is empowered by the law to carry out routine patrols.
The Customs lawyer said, “Men of the NCS are not supposed to be interrupted when performing their duty by virtue of the law; in the event that ensued while they were conveying the seizure, the mob tried to attack the officers on the road. Looking at what was going on, the officers swiftly shot into the air to disperse the mob and successfully dispersed the mob and conveyed the seizure to their base at Iseyin.
“Having arrived at the base, a mammoth crowd arrived at the base wherein two officers were caught by the mob and injured and they were taken to a hospital in Ibadan and were referred to Lagos for treatment. So the leader of the base made a call and contacted the Nigerian Army for help. Before the arrival of the army, the mob dispossessed one of the injured officers of his rifle.
“When the soldiers arrived, they worked with the officers on ground, recovered the rifle and restored calm in the area. The mob was armed with cutlasses, sticks and were pelting the officers with stones, and inflicted machete cuts on the officers; nobody was killed by men of the NCS, there was no incident of killing”.
While the back and forth allegations and defence lasted, the peak of emotion was when the lawyer was subsequently handed a certificate of death of one of the victims, 30-year old Akintolan Tobi, which concluded that the said victim died of gunshot wounds, after which he queried the authenticity of the medical doctor’s report, saying it could be a product of mere hearsay. His response triggered free flow of tears from relatives of the victims, including mother of one of the deceased, Mrs. Akinlotan Bosede who made a loud cry. Lawmakers and observers were visibly caught in the web too.
After several unsatisfactory answers to questions by members of the Committee who cautioned that care ought have been taken that lives were not involved in the matter, Hon. Jerry Alagbaoso a former officer of NCS, and now member of the House from Imo state moved for adjournment of the probe to enable zonal commanders in the area of the incident to appear at a yet to be fixed date, as submissions of the lawyer appeared disappointing to many members.
Any hope for victims?
As the commanders are being expected, it is yet unclear where the pendulum may eventually swing. Will the committee recommend adequate compensation for the victims? If it does, will the larger house adopt same? If also in the affirmative, how committed and soon will the authority of the NCS act in compliance? These were some of the many questions followers of the incident still expect answers to.
