| YOUR LETTERS
Missing cargo: An open letter to CG Customs
I write to your esteemed office
in the interest of justice and
prudence for which you have been known, long before your appointment as the Comptroller-General, of Customs. The investigation team which went to Lagos from Abuja, on the controversy surrounding the disappearance of the 270 vide packages on board swift flight international No.. BRO 1302 OF 27 MAY 2004 did not tell you the truth.
As an interest group, our silence was provoked as a result of the deliberate negative approach, which includes gross misconduct: and abuse of authority by the three senior officers sent to MMCARGO in Lagos to investigate the issue, by the customs headquarters in Abuja.
The team’s approach was completely wrong as it deli-berately refused to interview and discuss the issue with the officers; instead it went ahead to handpick, harrass, and intimidate officers who were not even remotely connected with the issue of releasing a cargo, less releasing an illegal one. This is because it never fell within their schedule as the said officers belong to different departments all together.
These so-called investigators, invited officers and openly demanded for gratification, threatening to drag them into the crises if they did not comply. This threat led to the issuing of query and indiscriminate suspension soon after their return to Abuja. The most pathetic of all is that we believe the CG’s office has been misinformed deliberately.
Over 75 officers fell victims to this deliberate mischief and 95 percent of these officers had nothing to do with this crime; they were not even remotely connected.
These handpicked officers work in neutral departments like Forex, Provost Marshal, Enforcement, Tally, Tarmac and the administrative office of the customs house.
Your good office should please note that the investigative style contained a lot of flaws, because it was stereotyped by the importers who committed the crime abinitio, and their conniving partners, the clearing agency companies, who moved the purported cargo out of the ware house so that innocent officers would be roped in to play the Israelites Scapegoat on behalf of the actual offenders.
The other thing is that the team did not tell your office and Nigerians the private meetings they had with the importers and the clearing agents in which they demanded for bribe of about N8 million. That is why the team kept mute on who are these clearing companies that illegally removed the impounded goods from the warehouse. Customs gave licence to these companies to operate, and can not only withdraw the licence, but also prosecute them for the crime. Who are these importers who committed this act of economic sabotage to the nation; already licking its wounds from the woes of past misrule?
In his letter dated 29th June 2004 to the Lagos command, the leader of the investigation team, Adamu Rabiu admitted to have identified those officers involved to have come from only one unit in the command, the NAHCO SHADE. His words:
“In the case of the on going investigation, it was established that the missing packages were indeed released and allowed exit out of NAHCO SHADE by our officers posted to Nahco in connivance with some unscrupulous Nahco officials”
The Abuja Panel set up for the officers to appear before it for investigation, can only do the assignment of the former investigation team; therefore your intervention is urgently needed.
You are known in the official circles as a prudent officer, your stand on professionalism won you the CG seat in the face of many challenges. Whether the new-found power has changed that or otherwise will be determined by the way you handle this matter. Indeed the general public is eager to know if you will review this issue in the interest of fairness and justice.
Mustapha Mohammed, Asokoro, Abuja.
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