By Daud Olatunji

What could have been the offence of a young Mallam Salihu Badamosi who, according to  findings,   did not carry any contraband of any sort,   but was shot dead by   men of Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun State Command and absconded? The deceased is survived by a wife and three children while the other victim, who was shot in the leg is receiving treatment.

Vanguard gathered that after the incident, the injured man goes about begging for alms in order to survive and got treatment. The incident   had   occurred January 8, 2016 at a filling station near Sagamu-Ogere bridge on Lagos-Ibadan expressway at 6:30 pm. It was further   gathered that   the affected men of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, in the state   had attempted to   sweep the incident  under the carpet, but, the family of the deceased raised the alarm.

Rescue operation

Family of the deceased, had reported the killing to a Non Governmental Organisation tagged,   Human Rights Watch and Rescue Operation which wrote petitions to Comptroller-General of the NCS, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (retd), the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase; Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Petition and state Commissioner of Police Abdulmajid Ali.

While narrating what happened as presented in the petition, national Coordinator of Human Rights   Watch and Rescue Operation, Comrade Salihu   Muhammed said there   was a report the group   received from the father of the deceased, Alhaji Gbadamosi who lives in Jos that on the 8th January 2016 at about 6:30pm officers of the NCS, Ogun State Command allegedly killed his son.

Comrade   Muhammed in the petition said “On the 8th of January, 2016 at about 6:30pm,   men of Nigeria Customs Service,   Ogun state command who are always stationed at a filling station   near Sagamu,   Ogere bridge,   Lagos-Ibadan express way, opened   fire on innocent Nigerians.

“Officers of the NCS,   Ogun state command drove their Hilux van to a filling station in Ogere where many Nigerians who   are on transit park their vehicles to pray. The men of Nigeria Customs opened fire on them killed Mallam Salihu Badamasi who was on transit from Lagos to Jos.

“The men of Nigeria Customs Ogun State command on the same day and time shot a young  Mallam Adamu Sani who alighted from a vehicle to pray and   who is now receiving treatment at Orthopaedic hospital,   Kano .

“The empty live ammunition used on these Nigerians by the men of Nigerian Customs,   Ogun State command were recovered. Some were with the Divisional Police Officer of the Jurisdiction area and some were with the family of the deceased.

“On October, 2015, the men of Nigeria Customs,   Ogun State command   caused a fatal accident resulted in the death of   18 people who were burnt beyond recognition on Lagos-Ibadan expressway way and ran   away. “Therefore,   we are appealing to the Comptroller General of the customs to look into the matter and fish out officers who perpetrated   the heinous act”, he said.

While speaking on the next line of action by the family,  the coordinator told Vanguard that the family was prepared to take the Nigeria Customs Service to court to seek redress. He said “we want the Nigerian Custom Service to   compensate the family of the deceased and that person that is receiving treatment in Kano.

“We want the   perpetrators to be brought   so as to avoid Boko Haram insurgency. As   I am talking to you,   the family has not received any response from anybody on the petition,   but,   if we do not get any response sometimes later, we will   take   the Nigerian Customs Service  to court because this is the time   of rule of law and the rule of law must prevail.

NCS reacts: Reacting to the allegation,   the Public Relations Officer of the NCS in the state, Usman Abubakar confirmed the incident. The NCS spokesperson said the command had received a petition from the office of the Comptroller General of customs over the incident and the command has set up an investigative committee.

According to him, “The Comptroller-General has set up a committee to investigate the matter. I cannot say anything about it,   because,   we just received a petition from Comptroller-General.”

Abubakar  added that “We have set up a committee to investigate the allegation. I cannot say anything about it for now until the panel concludes its investigation. We are going to ask men what went on there what they know about he issue so, for now,   I have nothing to say about the issue.”