The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise, on Wednesday slammed the lawyer to the Nigerian Customs Service, A.U Lawal for poorly representing the service in a case of alleged killing of five indigenes of Iseyin town in Oyo State on May 13, 2021.
The lawmakers who expressed disappointment at the submission by the lawyer as a result resolved to adjourn the matter pending the appearance by the Zone A Zonal Comptroller, Area Commander, and the officers on duty who allegedly fired the shots killing the people.
Barrister Lawal, an Assistant Legal Adviser to the Customs had in his submission told the panel that nobody was killed, just as he said it was the Iseyin people who launched a mob action against customs officers in an effort to dispossess them of some seizures made from smugglers who were driving two Pathfinder SUVs.
Hon. Leke Abejide, chairman of the committee had before the submissions by both parties laid a background to the effect that a motion was brought to the House calling attention to the said killings which led to the referral by the House.
He said lawmakers had to suspend their ongoing recess due to the importance of the issue with a view to getting the report ready before the House resumes on September 14.
In his brief account of what transpired on the said date, Mr. Raji Tijani Rasak who led the delegation from Iseyin told the committee that the border post where the said smugglers were intercepted is about 200 kilometers from Iseyin town, with about 50 villages in between. He therefore wondered why the Customs would allow them to get to Iseyin before engaging them in gun fire leading to he death of 5 people who were not smugglers.
He said the killing led to the mob action against the customs officers, with the service sending emissaries to the traditional rulers to beg. He also asked if the Customs were right in their action, why would they beg for understanding from the traditional rulers?
In his defense of the customs, the Assistant Legal Adviser said the incident happened at the base of the service located in Iseyin.
“Men and officers of Customs were on a roving patrol when they intercepted two jeeps(sic) laden with parboiled foreign rice. We make a particular reference to section 8 of the customs service which empowers the service to make arrest and 180 empowered it to possibly prosecute.
“Two pathfinder jeeps(sic) immediately after the arrest, the smugglers ran away abandoning the jeeps and the customs men that took charge came across a group of mob on their way back to Iseyin
Who blocked the road and attempted to attack the officers. Looking at what was going on, the officers swiftly dispersed them by making a shot in the sky. And they successfully dispersed them. On getting to Iseyin, our men were attacked by the mob and injured many officers. They were taken to the hospital and referred to Ibadan from where they were again referred to Lagos as ibandan hospital couldn’t treat them”, he said.
Asked if anyone was killed in the process of dispersing the alleged mob, he responded in the negative.
This however did not go down well with lawmakers who cautioned the lawyer against misleading the committee, adding that the incident of the Iseyin killing by customs officers was well reported in the media.
Lawmakers in their reactions faulted the customs for not apprehending the said smugglers before getting to iseyin. They said that alone was a bad performance report and record for the service, adding that it made the people of Iseyin to pay for the officers’ inefficiency leading to the death of innocent people who were not smugglers.
Members were particularly disappointed with the conduct of the Customs’ lawyer following his submission that the doctor’s report on the death of one Toby Akintola age 30, did mean anything since the doctor did not state that he examined the dead body.
The committee chairman displeased by his conduct, threatened to chase the Customs team out of the hearing and summon the CG, Hameed Ali, saying that he was not being represented well by the team.
The lawyer was therefore reminded of his earlier submission that officers shot into the air to disperse the mob, which goes to say that strayed bullets could have have hit people in the process.
As a result, the committee resolved to adjourn the matter following a motion by Hon. Jerry Alagboso who suggested that those within whose domain the incident occurred are in a better position to speak on it.
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