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Tag: Seme

  • Special team combats smugglers at Seme

    Special team combats smugglers at Seme

    The special anti-smuggling unit set up by  the out-going Controller, Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, Amede Abdul, has become smugglers’ nemesis at the Seme border.

    Investigations revealed that the Deputy Superintendent  of Customs (DSC) Jude Ohagwu-led team seized over 2,502 bags of 50kg parboiled rice, 60 kegs of 25 litres of vegetable oil, 105 pieces of fairly used tyres, 858 pairs of used shoes and other goods valued at N17,749,800 in a single operation.

    The team, The  Nation learnt, has been displaying zero tolerance for smuggling and other vices.

    The unit Public Relations Officer (PRO), Uche Ejesieme, said:”The team’s operational escapades remain a reference point. The leader of the group, Jude Ohagwu, is a rugged, fearless, resilient and highly committed officer and he has received award from the controller based on his anti-smuggling activities, “he said.

     

  • Customs realises N712m at Seme

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme Command, gen- erated N712.2 million revenue in April, its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Ernest Olottah, has said. The revenue is N61 million lower than the N773 million realised in March.

    “In the month of April, we generated lower because there was a slight drop in trading activities but as the year progresses, the revenue will get higher,” he said.

    Olottah said the command generated N9.6 billion in 2014, which was N3.4 billion less than the N13 billion targets for the year.

    He assured that the command would surpass the N13 billion target set for the command this year.

    The image maker said the command made 91 seizures in the month of April, with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N26.8 million.

    “There has been tremendous improvement in the seizures made.

    “The seized items include bags of rice, frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, vehicles, amongst others,” he said.

    The spokesman urged Nigerians to desist from smuggling due to its adverse effect on the economy.

    “Smuggling is not good for the economy so we must work together to save our economy and embrace legitimate trade.

    “Illegal trade erodes the national wealth so we must learn not to partake in such,” he said.

     

  • EBOLA: Our fears, by Seme border residents

    EBOLA: Our fears, by Seme border residents

    Don’t shut the border, Beninoise plead with govt

    AS Cameroon, Kenya and other African countries have resorted to shutting their borders against neighbouring African nations currently plagued by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), nationals of Benin Republic have begun to imagine the worst if their country  also decides to close its border with Nigeria.

    They foresee hunger, Kwashiorkor, mass death and other calamities befalling the country and the people should their government decide to shut the border in order to prevent the disease from spreading to their country.

    A trip to the tiny West African country shows that the nationals are prepared for a show down with their government if it contemplates taking such decision. None of the respondents welcomed the idea. They all described it as a decision that is worse than being hit by the EVD.

    One of the respondents, Alice Anthony, a native of Port Novo, is still being hunted by her unpalatable experience when the border was closed some years ago because of elections.

    She recalled that she and her kinsmen were almost sent to their early graves by hunger because the border was closed for just three days.

    “It must never happen again because we saw hell when a similar action was taken some years ago when elections were taking place in Nigeria. The border was shut for only three days within which we almost went to refuse dumps to scavenge for food.

    “If they shut it then for three days because of elections, shutting it down because of Ebola would be indefinite. If that happens, the number of people that would die in a week would be higher than the number that Ebola would kill in a year if it comes into our country. In fact, if the border is shut for just an hour, there would be pandemonium in the country,” she said.

    A leading trader, who gave her name as Asana Bandjo, feared that women would be worst hit if such decision is taken. She said: “I want to speak on behalf of women because we are really what you can describe as the real vulnerable group in this our country. Before now, our men used to work and take care of their wives and children but now, it is the women that feed the husbands.

    “Most of our men marry as many wives as possible and hardly bother about our well being. That is why you find every woman in our society hustling to feed her children and the husband as well. At times, the man may decide not come home for several days but when he comes, he will be asking for food which he did not give you a dime to prepare.”

    She added that their condition is made worse by the fact that their country does not have companies that can employ the women. “We don’t have companies that can employ women the way you people do in Nigeria. We don’t earn salaries here. We only depend on the small income we get from our petty trading. So, you can imagine what would happen to us and our children if the border is closed. It is better to manage Ebola than to toy with hunger. We have been educated about how to prevent Ebola so we have no fears about relating with our Nigerian neighbours,” she submitted.

    Ajanu Komavo, a bureau de change operator feared that there would be untold hardship that could lead to worse epidemic than Ebola in their country if the government shuts the border.

    “Our government must not think of shutting the border against Nigeria as some African countries have done against their neighbours because of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). If they do, there would be serious economic problems in the land and when this happens, we would all die of not just hunger, but of other outbreak of worse sicknesses than Ebola. It is easier to manage Ebola than hunger. Ebola kills in single digits but hunger and its attendant challenges kill en-masse,” he said.

    His business colleague, who gave his name as Ezekiel Dedewanu, said the country stands to lose a great deal if it takes such decision which, according to him, is not in the interest of the masses. “Did I hear you say anything about our government shutting the border because of Ebola?”  He began with a rhetorical question.

    “I have been earning my living from the border for several decades because people come in and go out of it on a daily basis. If the border is shut, nobody would come in or go out of this place and that would spell doom for me and my family. We would not be able to feed not to talk of having money to pay their school fees. Does it make sense to waste an entire generation because of the fear of Ebola?

    “Our country and Nigeria are brothers. We have been having cordial and symbiotic business relationship over the years and it would not be in the interest of any of the two countries if the border is shut.”

    Emmanuel Koffi, a commercial motor operator, opined that shutting the border is incapable of preventing Ebola from entering the country. He said: “Can any country stop a disease by closing the border? It is not possible because diseases are not physical things that you can prevent in that manner. It is ridiculous for any country to think that by closing its borders, it can prevent Ebola. What is important is to take the necessary health measures and pray against it.

    “I don’t think our government would contemplate that because they know the crucial role that Nigeria plays in our economy. Closing the border will amount to passing death sentence on the people because the very moment we exhaust our reserves, we would either die of hunger or turn to cannibals. Our case would be worse than the plight of people you see in war-torn nations.”

    The Beninoise are, however, not alone in this. Some of their Nigerian counterparts are also frowned at any decision to shut the border by any government.

    Nura Garuba, a Nigerian businessman said Ebola is not at the border and should not serve as a reason for anybody to close the border. “If the border is closed, it is not only the  that would be affected. There are thousands of Nigerians that earn their living from the border. So if any government decides to close the border, all of us would be affected. The difference is that it will only affect individuals in Nigeria while it will affect both individuals and Benin Republic as a country.

    “I have been living and doing business here for the past 20 years. I only travel to Zamfara, my state of origin, every year.  If the border is closed, what would I be doing to earn a living? Where will I get the resources to pay my rent and children’s school fees?

     

    Tackling Ebola at the border

    Checks at the entrance to Benin Republic shows that the government has embarked on massive enlightenment campaigns to sensitise the nationals and immigrants to the country about the EVD. A loud speaker was mounted by the gate from where a recorded message in English, French, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Egun was being passed to the people. Nothing of such was, however, found at the Nigerian side of the border.

    The Nigerian residents at the border, it was learnt, get to know about the EVD through the message broadcast from the Benin Republic’s loud speaker and occasionally, from radio and television broadcasts.

    A Beninoise official, who conducted our correspondent round the area, said the government is leaving no stone unturned in its bid to prevent Ebola from coming into the country. “Our government has been doing everything within its powers to enlighten our people and visitors to the country and the reality of the EVD.

    “We have a loud speaker through which we educate our people on what they need to do to avoid contracting the disease. The messages are in French, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Egun. We adopted this style because a good number of immigrants are from Nigeria. We have a doctor here at the border post who examines visitors to make sure they are not having the virus. So far, we have not found anybody living with the disease,” he said.

    The nationals have been full of appreciation to their government for its initiatives in educating them about the Ebola virus. Jacob Hounge, a Beninoire businessman, said that the campaign has gone a long way in helping the people to improve on their hygiene.

    He said: “We really thank our government for the enlightenment campaign that has opened our eyes to what we should do to avoid being infected by Ebola. It is a good thing that the campaign is this strong at the border because it will enable everybody that is entering and going out of the country to be aware of the virus.

    “I am surprised that Nigeria is not doing the same thing at their border. If they can employ this approach, the awareness level will be very high among the people.”

     

    Fear grips Nigerian border residents

    Nigerian residents at the Seme border have berated the Federal Government for, according to them, not doing enough to educate the people at the border about the disease like its Benin Republic counterpart.

    They decried the absence of ambulance and isolation centres at the border, wondering how a patient could be attended to in such situation. A resident, who gave her name as Rosemary Jikeme, said: “The Nigerian government is not doing enough as far as educating people at the border is concerned about this Ebola virus. The Beninoise are doing far better in this regard.

    “The radio and television broadcast they said they are doing is not sufficient in educating people in remote areas and borders because we all don’t have access to them. How would we hear about it when we have not had power supply in this area for about six years? There is a need for health workers to come here and organise seminars and other enlightenment programmes for us.”

    Another resident, who gave his name as Bayo Oni, lamented the absence of ambulance at the border, saying: “If there is any seriousness of the part of our government in tackling Ebola, there should be a standby ambulance here at the border. If we have a victim right here, how would they convey him to the hospital, moreso when we do not have any around us? My fear is that many people would be affected if just one person is found out to be living with the sickness here. The health workers and other government officials need to do more than wearing hand gloves.”

    Ozegbe Victor, a resident at the border, took a swipe at the Federal Government over the absence of isolation centres at the border. He said: “We have a government that takes pleasure in using propaganda in deceiving the people. I read it in the newspapers some time ago that the government has put isolation centres at all the borders across the country. Did you see anything like that in this area?

    “It is all deceit. If we have a case of Ebola now, what would happen? Don’t be deceived, the Port Health Services people we here cannot do anything in the face of emergency. I don’t even think they have what it takes to attend to emergencies.”

    A health official, who spoke with The Nation under anonymity, also confirmed that there was no isolation centre in place at the border, adding: “The government may provide one in the future, but as I am talking to you now, there is nothing like here at the border.”

     

    Concern about porous border

    Some of the residents in a chat with The Nation expressed serious concern about the porous nature of the border and the activities of the immigration officials.  They feared that sick illegal immigrants might end up infecting healthy residents at the border.

    “How can we be talking about tackling Ebola without tightening our borders? If an infected person mistakenly finds his way into this area, we would all be infected. Our lives as residents of this area are in great danger because of the innumerable numbers of illegal immigrants that troop into this area on daily basis.

    “Our border is too porous. The officials that are saddled with the responsibility are not doing their jobs very well. Apart from the challenge of Ebola, such unchecked migration into the country poses a serious threat to the security of the country and the citizens,” a resident, who gave his name as Abiodun Sule, said.

    Another resident, who simply identified herself as Babs, decried the high rate of corruption at the border. He pointed out that the laxity at the border needs to be checked to save the nation from unforeseen problems.

    “There is no sanity on Nigeria’s side of the border as you too can see. There are so many security agencies and plain cloth people masquerading as security men or government officials. Most of them are just there to extort money from people that are crossing the border.

    “This is not so at the Benin Republic border. There is high level of sanity at their border when you compare it with ours. They have a limited number of security agencies and government officials milling around the border. This helps them to monitor and control the movement of everybody going in and out of their border,” he said.

     

    Ebola Screening at Border as World Health Organisation (WHO) visits

    Our correspondent, who visited the area, reported that Port Health Services officials were screening immigrants to the country for Ebola. Checks showed that out of the large number of people trooping into the country, only a few were being screened. As big as the border is, the screening was only going on at a single point.

    As at about 3pm few number of the immigrants were made to go through the exercise. As at 5:30 when the team had left, the screening point was abandoned with immigrants moving in unchecked.

    It took the personal effort for our correspondent to know that the officials were still doing the screening. He approached the screening point and asked if he could be screened for Ebola. The officials, who appeared to be on holiday, answered in the affirmative, conducted the screening and said: “Your temperature is 34 o/c. If it were 37, we would have checked you for malaria or Ebola.”

    Asked if any traveller had been found to be infected, she said: “Why are you asking? You have known your status; you don’t have any business knowing about others’ status.” The record book was scanty when our correspondent did the test, confirming that the exercise had not long begun.

    Efforts to get the WHO team’s observation and remark about their visit were unsuccessful. One of their officials simply said: “I am not permitted to speak with the press. You can meet any of the Nigerian officials for briefing. I am sorry if I did not meet your expectations.”

    Visits to the offices of Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) and Port Health Services for comments also failed. The public relations officer of NIS, Mr Niyi Oyewole, said he was not in a position to speak on the issue, adding: “My controller who should have spoken with you has left for Abuja on official assignment.”

    The response was the same at the Port Health Services. An official of the organisation said the boss was not around to speak with our correspondent.

  • Seme’s Black Thursday

    Seme’s Black Thursday

    • Residents lament: we’ ve become ‘bush meat’ to Customsmen
    • Our men were attacked with arms, charms – Customs

    Booming sounds of gunshots replaced the usual boom in business activities in Seme, a border town between Nigeria and Benin Republic, penultimate Thursday when men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and suspected smugglers clashed.

    At the end of the mayhem, two residents of the community and a Customs officer were feared dead, while many others sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds. Goods and other valuables worth millions of naira were also destroyed in the bloody clash.

    The traders and workers in the area had commenced their legitimate businesses on the fateful day without any premonition of what lay ahead. The bright and promising day suddenly turned to a sordid darkness at about 9:30 am when a Customs officer allegedly shot a suspected smuggler, identified as Saturday Joel, for smuggling rice across the border.

    This was said to have precipitated a violent protest from the residents. In the process, the angry mob allegedly pounced on a customs officer, later identified as J. I. Motojelu, who happened to have unsuspectingly driven into them on his way to the office. He was instantly lynched.

    Customsmen, who got wind of the killing, allegedly mobilised and took on the residents as a reprisal for the killing of their own. This was the account of some people in the area who claimed to have witnessed the clash.

    But the Customs authorities demurred. According to the Seme Area Command, the crisis resulted from an allegedly unprovoked attack on their men by people suspected to be smugglers in the area. The attackers, it is claimed, used charms, arms and other dangerous weapons on every customs officer within reach.

    Thereafter, the peace and tranquility that had been the order of the day paved the way for an orgy of violence. Immediately, the commercial activities which had started on a good note, suffered instant paralysis as sounds of gunshots rumbled from one end of the area to another.

    While traders abandoned their goods and took to flight, workers hurriedly closed down their offices and joined the wobbly relay race.

    However, not all of them were lucky to escape from the scene unscathed. Many of them were caught in the hail of stray bullets as they hurriedly made attempts to run away from the imminent danger.

    An indigene of the community alerted our correspondent about the development at about 11: 30am on the fateful day. Thunderous sounds of gunshots were heard in the background when the telephone conversation was going on. The caller, who preferred anonymity, further drew our correspondent’s attention to the reverberating sounds of the gunshots when he said: “Please, come to Seme and see what the Nigerian Customs Service is doing to us. Hope you are hearing the sounds in the background? That is the sound of gunshots fired by men of the Nigerian Customs at our people.”

    The correspondent, who visited the area, reported that the usually busy road that leads to the border was deserted because of the crisis. Though a combined team of soldiers and mobile policemen were stationed at strategic points in the area to forestall further breakdown of law and order, many commercial drivers refused to go to the troubled area. Most of them refused to go beyond Badagry, fearing that the ugly incident might erupt again.

    The story of the clash was the topic of every discussion among the travellers and the traders in the embattled community. Residents of the community, both elders and youths, also gathered soberly in small groups in different parts of the area and discussed the incident in emotion laden tones.

    One of such gatherings was at the house of Saturday Joel, the suspected smuggler allegedly shot by a Customs officer. The sympathisers, who gathered at the victim’s residence, debunked the claims that he (Saturday) was shot in the course of smuggling rice across the border. They claimed that he was shot in front of his house where he was chatting with his brother.

    The parents were immediately not around to speak with our correspondent, but the younger brother, who gave his name as Mathew, said it was a blatant lie that his brother was shot in the course of smuggling rice across the border.

    He said: “ It is not true that Saturday was shot in the course of smuggling rice across the border. He is a tailor by profession and had never been involved in smuggling. It was in front of our house that he was shot. We were together when the Customs officer shot him.”

    Explaining how it happened, he said: “Both of us stood outside the house after Saturday had finished taking his breakfast. As we were talking, we saw a Customs vehicle pursuing a red car towards our quarters. The car was moving on the other side of the road when the Customs men spotted him. Thereafter, they pursued him driving ‘one way’ until they got to our side. When they could not apprehend the man, the driver of the Customs Hilux reversed, while the other officer walked towards us. He pointed his gun at Saturday and shot him somewhere below the ribs. I felt the impact of the shot and fell down.

    “Immediately the officer shot him, he jumped into their van and they sped off. My brother is innocent. He is an easy- going man, married with three kids. He neither aided the fleeing smuggler nor interfered with the activities of the Customs men. We were only watching the whole drama as it was unfolding and never did anything to intervene in the whole exercise. If he was actually shot in the course of smuggling, why did the Customs officers run away after shooting him? This tells you that their allegation is a lie.”

    A sympathiser, who simply gave his name as Joe, said the community is in deep sorrow not only because Saturday was shot, but because they labelled him a smuggler after shooting him without good reason.

    “Have we committed any crime to be indigenes and hosts of the Nigerian Customs Service? Why have they chosen to be this brutal against us?”, he began with rhetorical questions, adding: “Their failure to admit their fault after shooting Saturday has aggravated our pains. It added salt to our injury. The allegation that he is a smuggler is an afterthought. It is a matter of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it. They used it as a cover up because they know that, that was the only way they could defend their barbaric action.

    ”This is not the first time they would shoot or kill our people in this dastardly manner. This is about the fifth time. Just last month, specifically on August 4, they killed one of our sons, popularly called Fryo. The situation was also similar to that of Saturday. He was trying to fix his faulty car when some frustrated Customs officers, who had fruitlessly chased a smuggler, pounced on him and shot him to death. The excuse they gave was that they thought that he was coming to attack them. How would someone with bare hands attack people that are armed to the teeth? If Saturday was truly a smuggler, was shooting him the right thing to do? Couldn’t they have arrested him, using the large number of personnel they have at the border? ”

    In the course of gathering information in the nooks and crannies of the community, our correspondent ran into another set of residents, who were lamenting the alleged killing of one of them whose name was given simply as Lanre. The mourners, comprising friends and relations of the deceased, according to them, were just returning from his burial and were cleansing themselves spiritually when our correspondent got to the area. One of them, suspected to be the chief priest, dipped some leaves into a black clay pot and sprinkled a liquid substance on the mourners, praying that similar fate would not befall them. Each of the mourners after chorusing ‘amen’ rubbed the liquid substance over their bodies and stepped aside soberly.

    The distraught mourners lamented Lanre’s alleged killing. One of them, who gave his name as Gbenga, said he still found it difficult to believe that Lanre had died.

    “I still find it difficult to believe that Lanre is gone. We were together few hours before he was killed. I still wonder why men of the Nigerian Customs chose to cut him down in his prime because he wasn’t a smuggler,’’ he said sobbing.

    Shortly after the encounter with friends and relations of late Lanre, news about the death of another victim, identified as Albert Olomitutu, was broken around 4.30 pm. He was said to have died in Benin Republic where most of the victims were taken to for medical attention.

    Augustine, another relation of two victims of the mayhem, also narrated that he took his brothers to Benin Republic for medical attention when he discovered that the local treatment they were being given was not improving their situation.

    He said: “The community did not take up arms against the Customs as they have made the general public to think. The crisis is not between them and any smugglers. It was strictly a case of the NCS using their powers and weapons to oppress and suppress us in our native community. They chose to unleash terror on us and two of my brothers sustained gunshot wounds in the crisis. I have taken them to Cotonou for medical attention because the local treatment they were getting here was not improving their health conditions. My concern is to see how my brothers would be well. I have placed everything in the hands of God. May God judge between us and the Customs.”

    A visibly worried member of the community, who identified himself as Biodun Samson, alleged that more than 10 residents suffered various degrees of gunshot wounds during the crisis. He feared that the death toll may further rise because most of the victims did not get the deserved medical attention before they were rushed to Benin Republic for medical attention.

    He said: “ I have never seen this kind of thing before in my life. It was as if they were prepared to exterminate us. They had excess bullets to the extent that some live bullets, were falling from them. We found some live bullets that fell from them when they were pursuing us and also picked some used bullets fired at our people. It appears as if we have become ‘bush meat’ that they must hunt down.

    “The number of people that suffered gunshot wounds should be more than 10. Two of them fell beside me when we were running for our dear lives. Most of the victims were taken to Benin Republic for medical attention because we don’t have hospital in this place. If we were to have a standard hospital, somebody like Albert would not have died in Benin Republic where he was rushed to for medical attention. My fear is that some others that were taken there may die at the end of the day because they would have lost too much blood before getting medical help in faraway Benin Republic.

    “Is it not a shame that we had to carry our people from here in Nigeria to little Benin Republic for treatment? We have not had power supply for over five years, the roads are death traps but nobody cares. The federal government makes so much money here through the Nigerian Customs and others but they don’t care about the indigenes. Instead of assisting us to develop the community by providing us with basic infrastructure, they are using their agents to kill us.”

    Isiaka, a commercial driver who plies Seme-Mile 2 road, also gave account of how one of their men was shot on the thigh. “One of our boys was shot on the thigh during the crisis. He was immediately rushed to his home town in Ibadan, Oyo State. Our prayer is that he would survive because the distance is too far. If you were here on Thursday, you would think there was a civil war going on in the community. The problem started around 9.30 am when a Customs officer shot a resident. They said he was a smuggler.

    ‘’They had earlier killed another indigene, popularly called Fryo, sometime last month and claimed that he was a smuggler. I am sure that all this accumulated anger triggered off the crisis yesterday (penultimate Thursday) because few minutes after the NCS officer shot the guy, some of the aggrieved villagers went on the rampage and in the process, a Customs officer was lynched and a trailer carrying a full load of goods to Lagos set ablaze. The Customs officers mobilised and shot indiscriminately at the protesters.’’

    An elderly member of the community, who identified himself as Omoede Soka, said the crisis would have gone out of hand had the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area, Mr Mohammed Mu’Azu, not intervened.

    He said: “The problem would have gone out of hand if not for the timely intervention of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr Mohammed Mu’ Azu, who pleaded with members of the community to calm down. He played a vital role in quelling the crisis before two batches of soldiers and mobile policemen were drafted to maintain peace and order. He trekked from one end of the area to the other to make sure that the crisis was brought under control.

    “This is not the first time they would kill members of our community. It is about the 5th time. The problem started around 9.30 am when a Customs officer shot one of our members right in front of their house. The whole of Seme was on fire on Thursday as they shot indiscriminately at innocent people. A good number of the victims have been taken to Benin Republic for medical attention. We don’t have any hospital that we can take them to for treatment. We just heard that one of them died this afternoon few minutes after we buried another that was also shot.”

    Our correspondent also sought the comment of the Lagos State Command Police Public Relations officer, Ngozi Braides, on the matter. She simply said: “The matter is under investigation. You know that the people killed a Customs officer; so the matter is with the Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos.’’

    The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service had in a statement issued during the week assured that normalcy had returned to the area.

    The statement reads: ‘’Following the recent attack on officers of the Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service by persons suspected to be smugglers and the killing of an armless customs officer in cold blood, the Customs Area Controller, Abdu Saleh Othman, has assured all members of the business community to continue going about their normal businesses.

    ‘’He has since reassured genuine business men and travellers to disregard rumours and fake stories of insecurity at the border as all government security agencies visibly seen around are there to ensure the safety of lives and properties at the Nigerian frontier with the Republic of Benin.

    ”All our law-abiding citizens, travellers and members of the border trading community have nothing to fear or worry about. They should go about their normal businesses and disregard rumours of insecurity at the border as the security agencies are cooperating as usual to ensure the safety of lives and properties.

    ‘’The supreme price paid by our colleague in the service to our fatherland has further strengthened our resolve to give in our best. The gentleman officer we lost recently did not die in vain. Those behind this act will pay for it. The destruction of government vehicle and arson against commercial goods being imported is a thing we condemn in strong terms.

    ‘’He has since urged all officers and men of the command to keep up the fight against smuggling and keep to their statutory rules of engagement in the discharge of their duties.’’

    We don’t encourage extra-judicial killings –Customs

    Below is the response of the Public Relations Officer of the Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Ernest Olottah, to the questions sent to him online on the Seme crisis:

    Seme indigenes said Saturday is not a smuggler. Is it true that your men shot him in front of their house after they could not apprehend a fleeing smuggler driving a red car?

    We are not aware of any person called Saturday among our stakeholders in Seme.

    They also alleged that your men shot directly at the residents killing two of them (lanre and Albert were mentioned by residents) and injuring many others. What do you have to say about it?

    The two names mentioned are not also known to us. The border community holds a vast population and as customs officers, we don’t keep records of the addresses and informal identities as mentioned in the question. You may be assisting us further by giving us full names, addresses, nationalities, states of origin and ages of the persons involved.It is pertinent to note that the customs command keeps a robust interaction with the community and this does not stop us from discharging our formal functions. It rather strengthens our duties as it is intended to make it.

    If Saturday were a smuggler, shouldn’t he have been arrested and prosecuted instead of being shot?

    Customs officers operating in Seme like any other command are well trained for the job. This training includes the use of arms in the discharge of their duties.Our officers do make arrests and we prosecute cases that fall under our legal purview. Customs officers only use arms where arrest is being resisted and where suspects or mob protecting them chose to attack and disarm officers trying to effect arrest.

    Why was he shot and abandoned on the spot by your men? Why didn’t they take his body away for treatment and prosecution thereafter?

    Our officers used their arms to prevent being killed and disarmed by persons shielding smugglers from arrest.

    Is it also true that you have recovered the red vehicle driven by the fleeing smuggler that resulted in shooting Saturday?

    We have so many seized vehicles in our custody; some are red in colour.Please specify vehicle make.

    Is it also true that your men killed another resident by the name Fryo on August 4? Why was he also killed and abandoned?

    We as customs organisation do not encourage extra-judicial killings and we value human lives too.

    Is it also true that similar killings of the residents by your men have taken place before now?

    We are aware that another agency of government is investigating the mob actions and killing of a customs officer by suspected smugglers and their suspected border community collaborators.

    Could all these be as a result of improper training on the part of your men?

    The Comptroller General of Customs has placed training among priority issues in his six-point agenda. I dare say that our men are properly trained.

    Finally, enumerate your loss(es) in the recent crisis and past efforts at checking smuggling in the area.

    A customs officer of the rank of superintendent was murdered.W e are yet to evaluate the worth of vehicles,imported goods and other properties destroyed and stolen by persons who attacked customs officers with arms, charms and other dangerous objects.