• Nigerians demand prosecution of perpetrators
By Moshood Adebayo, Isaac Anumihe, Chinelo Obogo and Lukman Olabiyi
The Federal Govermment has taken over investigation of a consignment of 440 pump action rifles seized in Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, on Tuesday, May 23, 2017.
The consignment has been moved to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Ikeja, on the orders of Customs high command.
Customs Public Relations Officer of Tin Can Island Port, Mr Uche Ejesieme, told Daily Sun that the consignment was taken there early Wednesday morning for custody, pending when it will be handed over to the appropriate agency of government for further investigation.
Ejesieme said “those involved have been arrested, but their names were still withheld, for security reasons.
“Our investigations will reveal the importer and other things you will require. We don’t want to rush the investigation because of the nature of the consignment.”
Displaying the guns at the port, the Zonal Co-ordinator of Zone ‘A’ of Customs, Assistant Comptroller General Monday Abueh, said the guns, which originated from Turkey, were concealed inside a 40-feet container with numbers PONU210024 (1) 22G1 carrying POP powder used for design of houses.
“Based on intelligence report of Tin Can Island Customs, Comptroller Bashir Yussuf, one of our best officers was able to make use of the intelligence report made available to him and the container was identified and intercepted. It was intercepted even before declaration. We discovered that they used POP powder to conceal it in order to beat the customs checks.
“We have one defendant, but, for the purpose of indemnity, we don’t intend to detain him for long because of security reasons. As of the consignee, we are still keeping it under raps because investigations is still ongoing. We have about 440 pieces coming from Turkey,” Abueh said.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have called for the prosecution of those behind the arms haulage.
Leading the call is elder statesman, Tanko Yakassai who urged the federal government to immediately expose and prosecute those responsible for the smuggling of the arms.
“It’s serious cause for concern and I am really surprised that, up till now, no one has been prosecuted. I find it very strange. This is the second time such a large consignment of arms is being intercepted by the Customs in a few months, yet we have not heard that anyone has been prosecuted or apprehended.
“How is it possible for huge cache of arms to be smuggled into the country and no one has been arrested?
“It is not normal at all. It is not ghosts who import these things; they are human beings and those people have names.
“For instance, in the United States of America, how possible is for such quantity of arms to be intercepted by the country’s customs, yet, no one is apprehended or prosecuted? Our intelligence agencies usually partner agencies of other countries; it is not enough to display the arms to the media, Customs should tell Nigerians where the arms came from; unless there is something they do not want us to know.”
Yakasai insisted government “owes it to Nigerians, to follow up the matter to its logical conclusion.”
Also, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria Seyi Sowemimo, while lamenting the number of arms and ammunition intercepted between January and May, wondered why nobody had been arrested and prosecuted. He said something appears to have gone wrong with the nation’s security system .
“Recently, we heard rumours of coup which made Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, to issue warning to his personnel and some prominent Nigerians added their voices to the warning.
“If, from January till date, nobody has been prosecuted over the intercepted ammunition, with this latest discovery, it means there is serious problem and failure on the part of our security agencies. It shows they are not doing their work.”
He added: “The number of arms impounded by Customs is alarming to be ignored. How could those weapons get into the country without anybody knowing the importers and the purpose for which they were imported?”
Also, second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani, said Nigeria is like a Banana Republic.
Ubani said only God is still holding the country together as one and expressed regrets that from January till date, nobody has been prosecuted, neither has nobody been arrested over the first set of ammunition intercepted, apart from some Customs officers fingered in the saga.
The rights activist said “we are in a precarious situation” and wondered “why Customs officer who were fingered in the crime was not charged to court just as other culprits remain unknown till date.
“We need to be serious as a nation. We should learn from the United Kingdom (UK) how things are done in terms of security,’’ he added.
To Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, “confiscation of the riflesmust not be swept under the carpet like previous ones.”
Adams also called for “thorough investigation of those behind the importation of the arms with a view to prosecuting them accordingly.
“It will be great disservice to Nigeria, as a country, if, this time, importation of these arms is also swept under the carpet.
“Nigerians deserve to know those behind the importation and why it was imported into the country.”
Nevertheless, National President, Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Yerima Shetima, said the interception at the Lagos port was clear pointer that all is not well with Nigeria, as a country.
“It is also a clear indication that some people are working against the unity of the country, otherwise what would anyone or group want to do with such number of rifles.
“I’m of the opinion some Nigerians are getting desperate as the 2019 elections draw closer. However, I want to call for a thorough investigation into those behind the importation with a view to bringing them to book accordingly,” Shetima said
He also commended the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) for what he described a job well done.
“They must not rest on their oars; the perpetrators must be brought to book in the interest of the country.”