Senator demands ex-Customs boss, Hameed Ali’s arrest
The senator representing Osun East in the 10th National Assembly, Francis Fadahunsi, has said the former Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (retd.), should be arrested by anti-graft and security agents.
Fadahunsi, a retired deputy comptroller general of customs, told Sunday PUNCH in an interview that the appointment of a thoroughbred professional as the new Comptroller-General would help the service.
President Bola Tinubu recently appointed Bashir Adeniyi as the acting Comptroller-General of Customs.
He added, “By the time the rots in the Customs service are uncovered, people would know how much damage is done. If not that Nigeria’s economy is resilient, it ought to have collapsed.” He faulted the process of auctioning vehicles, adding that some of the owners of the seized vehicles did not recover from the shock.
Fadahunsi noted that impounded rice were said to be donated for humanitarian purpose, which he said was being funded in the budget of the humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development ministry.
He said, “All these seized items could have been sold back to the owners and money would have also been generated in the form of duties. He must answer for his sins.”
The senator asked the new Customs boss to “demilitarise the customs, knowing that revenue pursuant and anti-smuggling do not mean going around with guns in the city like coup plotters as if there was war.”
He said the old system affected revenue and that the militarisation shut business doors against neighbouring countries under the guise that they were stealing fuel.
He added, “In the real sense of it, how much fuel passes through the border, we all know how fuel is being stolen. How many tons of fuel has the customs ever seized at the border? What can two people do amidst the numerous people? Go to the Republic of Benin, the Onikolobo cement built by Nigeria and ceded to them is still there.
“How much fuel is exported by road, whereas you would see a whole shipload of fuel being smuggled via water and even escorted by security agents. We must appreciate the President for his new appointment. We believe things can be repaired.” Punch
