P ENULTIMATE week, the ancient town of Iseyin, Oyo State, was thrown into panic as four persons were reportedly killed during an exchange of gunfire between a team attached to the Federal Operations Unit of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and suspected smugglers. There was an uproar as enraged residents took the corpses to the palace of the Aseyin of Iseyinland, Oba AbdulGaniyu Adekunle Ologunebi. Reacting to the incident, the spokesman for the unit, DSC Theophilus Duniya, claimed that the casualties were smugglers. According to him, the officers were on routine patrol when they intercepted two Nissan Pathfinder SUV vehicles fully loaded with smuggled foreign parboiled rice at Iseyin. Sequel to the interception, he said, the officers were attacked with dangerous weapons by a mob mobilised by the smugglers. Thus, “in an attempt to abduct one of the Customs officers that were brutally attacked and who had sustained deep cuts on his head and other parts of his body, three smugglers lost their lives as other Customs officers in the patrol team opened fire on them.” For good measure, Duniya added that “The Acting Comptroller of the Unit, DC Usman Yahaya, is sad about the avoidable incident and urges community leaders and parents to call their wards and youths to order. He lamented the criminality of obstructing and attacking officers on lawful duty, describing it as a venture that yields no good for all, including the service.”
However, the Customs’ version of events was hotly disputed by eyewitnesses. Following the incident, a group, Iseyin Elders Council (IEC), called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the arrest and prosecution of the officers and men who killed “innocent bystanders” while chasing rice smugglers. The IEC, through its vice chairman and former Commissioner for Works and Transport in the state, Alhaji Bolaji Kareem, said the council identified with the directive of the Aseyin that the Federal Government should restrict the activities of Customs men to designated border posts while the families of the slain victims should be adequately compensated. Said Kareem: “We are tired of the killing of innocent, harmless, defenceless citizens of Iseyinland and Oke-Ogun by blood-thirsty criminals in uniform. We wonder why it is only in this part of the country that men of the Customs and Excise abandon their duty posts to chase shadows and recklessly massacre our law-abiding innocent people.”
The council asked the Oyo State governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde, to come to the aid of “citizens of Iseyin and Oke Ogun in general who are being killed in cold blood” by men of the NCS, kidnappers, bandits and herdsmen. On its part, the Senate resolved that the Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and the Senate Committee on Police Affairs should work out appropriate compensation to families of the slain victims. Its decision was sequel to a motion by Senator Buhari Abdulfatai, who said the Customs manifested long-held abuse of processes in its handling of the Iseyin crossfire.
It is indeed disturbing that on the pretext of a war against smugglers, the NCS chose to turn a town into a theatre of war. For years, there have been reported cases of hapless citizens getting killed during mortal combat between NCS personnel and smugglers. Even if the NCS’ narrative on the incident is the correct one, the fact remains incontrovertible that it needlessly created panic and apprehension among innocent and law-abiding citizens, putting their lives at risk. Nigerians would recall that while he was the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun harped on the truism that it is better for a criminal to escape than for an innocent citizen to be killed. That statement remains true till today. Whatever economic sabotage the smugglers that the operatives of Federal Operations Unit of the NCS were after had perpetrated cannot, under any circumstances, be equated to the loss of innocent lives. A security agency worth its salt, no matter the severity of its engagement and the weight of its cause, would do everything within its power to ensure that innocent citizens do not get caught in the line of fire.
In previous editorials, we rued the NCS’ poor choices, including its criminal raids on traders’ stalls in the dead of night and carting away of foodstuff and money, its proposed ban on vehicles beyond seven years old, its dereliction of duty at the country’s borders, and actions suggesting ethnic bias and favouritism in a multi-ethnic state. On current evidence, the agency seems poised to continue on its ruinous path. Customs operatives shoot indiscriminately in border towns and consistently violate the order that they should not go beyond 40km radius to the border. Laws are there so that you can have a basis to arrest people, but when you violate those laws, have you not vitiated that basis? We are unimpressed by the antics of the NCS. While not objecting to its professed readiness to combat smuggling, we assert that professionalism, ethics, discipline and willingness to abide by the rules have been lacking in the NCS’ operations in recent times. This is unacceptable and must stop forthwith.
We join the Senate in calling for the prosecution of the perpetrators of the Iseyin killings.
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