Assembly Member, Oyedele decries incessant raid of customs service officers in Ipokia—Idiroko
The house of assembly member, representing Idiroko—Ipokia consistency in Ogun state has decried the incessant raid by the men of Nigeria Customs Service in their area.
According to Oyedele, The raid at the popular Iyana-Ago junction in Idiroko, by Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service is illegal, unprofessional, unethical flanked with maladroit practices and abuse of human rights.
“I am saddened by the raid which is purely an abuse of power, office and status on civilians in the face of NCS men armed to the teeth with rifles bought with taxpayers money. This is a long term modus operandi of men of the Nigeria Customs Service in my constituency which is against international best practices and will never continue.” he said.
Also he said, It is on records, that Ipokia Local Government has a population of more than Two hundred thousand people (200,000), yet only 4 filling stations were licensed to sell petroleum products, with a maximum of 45,000 litres per station, approximately 180 thousands litres for 7days, this means less than 1 litre per person for 7 days. However, it’s frustrating that the little efforts deployed by our people to get fuel from as far as 35 KM for their personal uses; so as to cushion the effect of the policy is not being appreciated but rather being used as an avenue to score cheap marks by the Nigeria Customs operatives amidst extortion and bribery.
“In my enquiry into the incident, the petroleum products was seized from about Six (6) innocent women, who got the fuel and planned to take it home for use after work, one of them is into ice-block making business. She has been into this business for years, and has not derailed despite the harsh policy on her business, she confirmed to me personally that she got the fuel and put it in a store so that she can use for the next few days. It is pathetic to note that this products were seized from these struggling innocent women, who are Nigerians.” he added.
He appealed to the headquarter of Nigeria Customs Service in Abuja to sanction their officers who engaged on unprofessional ethics to approach the people of Ipokia and Idiroko area.
However, he said the inglorious approach of making seizures and wading guns in the faces of our people within the community rather than being diligent with their work and manning all routes to the border properly. The Petroleum products seized from the innocent women should be released without further delay. Petroleum product are not contraband within the country.
He appealed to his constituent to carry on with their day-to-day activities, as he promised to engage the top hierarchy of the Nigeria Customs Service to see an end to this long term menaces and shenanigans of the operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service within the communities.
