The Federal Government has been called upon to reign in its uniformed officers in their penchant to intimidate innocent citizens and sometimes waste lives of innocent ones.
The call was contained in a Press Release made by Oke Ogun Development Consultative Forum (ODCF) following the unwarranted shootings by officers of Customs and Excise that led to the death of four people and caused injuries to several others in Iseyin, headquarters of Iseyin Local Government area, Oyo State on Thursday, May 13, 2021, on the day Muslims were marking Ed-il-Fitri festival.
In the Release jointly signed by ODCF President, Dr. Olusegun Ajuwon OON, the General Secretary, Mr. Zaccheus Adepoju and Comrade Jare Ajayi, Publicity Secretary, the umbrella body for the people of Oke ogun, to which Iseyin belongs, lamented that such unwarranted killings of innocent citizens in the area were becoming too many.
The organization recalled that in this same Iseyin, a Customs Officer shot dead an executive member of the proscribed National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Lateef Aboki, at Iseyin-Moniya Park on the excuse that his vehicle allegedly carried a bag of imported rice. This happened on Friday, August 19, 2020.
In 2019, one Kazeem Sanni, from Igbeti, Olorunsogo local government of Oyo State, was equally gunned down extra-judicially on the allegation that he was traveling with imported rice in his car between Igbeti and Ogbomoso.
According to the organization:
“In the not too distant past, the excesses of the Customs and Excise officers had provoked protests in Irepo, Oorelope and Saki West Local Government Areas with these communities on occasions calling for total removal of Customs’ bases in their respective towns. Most of the times, top echelons of the Customs would come, hold meetings with leaders in the communities with promises that the officers would thenceforth be friendly rather than hostile to the people.”
But from experience, such armistice only lasts for a while as the Customs officials would be seen using strong arms tactics against the people.
“We are not asking the Customs and Excise not to perform its duties. But proper steps that do not put the lives of the people in danger must be taken in performing such duties.”
The Oke ogun leaders in the release asserted that the conduct of the said Customs officers is in total contravention of section 31 of the country’s Constitution which guarantees life for every citizen. In subsection (1), the Constitution asserts that “Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria”.
The same constitution vests the power to deprive a person of his life in the judiciary and that must be after proper investigation and trial must have been conducted and the person was found guilty of an offence that carries death penalty.
For Customs officer or any other uniformed officer of government to willfully deprive any citizen of his or her life is in total violation of the extant laws of the country. “As such, the said officer or officers must be charged and be appropriately punished as prescribed by the law of the land” they submitted.
Section 47 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) that spells out the penalties to be applied for anyone who contrives the Act prescribes five year jail term with or without the option of fine. And this must be after proper trial by a competent court in the country must have been conducted.
For the information of the public, the routes through which imported goods enter Nigeria in the Western axis of the country as clearly stated in the Customs Act (CUSTOMS AND EXCISE MANAGEMENT ACT, 2003/4) are as follow:
Approved routes Customs Station
1. Western Border
The direct road from the border entering Nigeria through:
(1) Alari
(2) Yekeme
(3) Ijofin
(4) Idiroko
(5) Ifonyintedo
(6) Idopetu
(7) Ohumbe
(8) Ijoun
(9) Meko
(10) Ijio
(11) Okuta
(12) Chikanda
From the list above, it would be seen that only Ijio is the route in Oke-Ogun that is within 40 kilometres’ radius that the Presidential Order made under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Iseyin and many other towns in Oke Ogun where the Customs officials chased people to the point of death last week are well over 40 kilometres within which the law permitted them to forcibly disempower alleged possessor of smuggled goods.
Meanwhile, even where someone was suspected to have illegally imported goods, what the law says is for the person to be arrested and prosecuted with the said goods seized. If the person is found guilty he faces five year jail term with or without the option of fine.
The Release emphasized that “there is nowhere in the regulation governing the conduct of Customs officers where they were empowered to shoot to kill – not to talk of them chasing people into market area and dastardly murdering innocent people in cold blood”.
The ODCF demanded that as immediate measures, the following steps be taken:
1. Prompt arrest and prosecution of the officers who were responsible for the Iseyin killings.
2. Compensation for the families of the victims
3. Payment for the medical treatments of all those who were wounded when the Customs officers were on rampage.
4. Immediate withdrawal of Cusoms men from all towns and areas beyond 40 kilometres from the border posts of Nigeria.
5. A genuine determination and assurance from Customs officers that such a thing would not happen again.
The body stated that these were the minimum they expect. They then express their condolence to the family of the dead and wishes the wounded a quick recovery.
