Samuel Awoyinfa, Abeokuta
The Ogun State Government has berated the operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service over the killing of Saubana Onila on Wednesday at Sowo village along Abeokuta-Sagamu Expressway by one of its operatives.
It also demanded a thorough investigation into the case by the NCS authorities.
Onila was said to be a former unit chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Grammar School Unit, in the Sapon area of Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He was said to be driving a Mazda 626 loaded with 25 bags of rice, when the incident occurred.
Onila allegedly drove one of the five vehicles said to have been loaded with 25 bags of rice each, which they reportedly loaded at the Kuto Motor Park in Abeokuta.
The state government, in a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, on Thursday noted that if the operatives had done their jobs at the land borders with same zeal, the public would have been saved the agonies and loss of lives.
The statement read in part, “We maintain that this bravado use of power hundreds of kilometres away from the international borders by customs officers cannot be justified by any logic.
“We are of the belief that if these officers had demonstrated this level of patriotic zeal in the discharge of their duties at the border posts and several custom checkpoints located along the roads leading from borders, the public would have been saved the agony and loss of lives.”
Adeoluwa asked the customs authorities to caution its officers in the state to embrace decorum and civility while carrying out their operations to avoid acts capable of breaching the public peace.
He recalled the raiding of the Sango-Ota Rice Market, in which customs operatives allegedly broke into over 60 shops and evacuated all the bags of rice found there.
He said the public outcry and protest that greeted the raid would have been prevented if the men had been diligent and patriotic in the discharge of their duty.
The statement urged residents of the state to remain calm and go about their lawful activities, assuring them that the state government would not relent in engaging all stakeholders to prevent a recurrence.
The Public Relations Officer, Ogun Area Command, NCS, Usman Abubakar, said the command would not join issues with the government as investigations were on by the customs authorities and the police.
He said, “We are not going to join issues with the government as investigations have commenced into the case. Let us wait for the outcome of the investigations.”
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