Customs officials beat eight FAAN workers to coma

Two weeks after three personnel of Nigeria Air Force, NAF, beat a staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN), to coma, another workers of the agency were yesterday beaten to unconsciousness by men of the Nigerian Customs Service, (NCS) at the Lagos Airport.

Already, five out of eight officers of Aviation Security, AVSEC, of FAAN were beaten to a pulp by heavily armed personnel of Nigeria Customs for refusing them to gain access to the restricted areas at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA while the uniforms of the other three; females, were torn for daring to record the beating incident.

The names of the five officers are Ebiloma Emmanuel, Ungbos Habu Jude, Onoja Daniel, Isiguzo Valentine Nnamdi and Nwala David Nnamdi while the names of the other three females could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

It took the intervention of the other security agencies’ personnel to rescue the FAAN staff from the over five Customs personnel who were determined to kill the AVSEC officers for not allowing them to gain access to the airport.

The beating incident happened around 11am yesterday.

The Chief Security Officer, Airport Command, Col. Carl Onalu (rtd) said FAAN was interested in the beating of the eight officers and would follow the issue to the letter.

Speaking  at the FAAN clinic where the victims were immediately taken to, Onalu described the incident as unfortunate, which ought not to have happened if all parties were working in harmony.

He said  that the AVSEC personnel had prevented the Customs men from entering the airside for not wearing reflective jackets and without their On-Duty-Card, ODC, on them as required by the law, a situation, which the officers perceived as insults and insisted they must be allowed into the restricted areas of the airport. 

He explained that the Comptroller General of Customs and the Managing Director of FAAN, Engr. Saleh Dunoma were already aware of the incident and had shown interest on the matter.

According to him,  FAAN had already reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police, Airports Command and that the issue would be discussed at the aviation security meeting, which would take place very soon.

Onalu added that FAAN would replay the Closed Circuit Television, CCTV, cameras to review the entire incident and vowed that it would take appropriate measures to prevent recurrence.

He said, “What happened was unfortunate and I called the Airport Commissioner of Police and even the headquarters of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, in Abuja is already aware of this including our Managing Director.

“Those concerned have been arrested and issued queries. But, we are also requesting for the copy of the disciplinary action that would be meted out to the officers that perpetuated this act for our record purpose.

“We are going to call airport security meeting and we will ensure that this act will never happen again. At the higher level, there is good working relationship, but there is disconnect at the lower level. Everybody has a role to play at the airport. There are rules governing act of everybody.”

The insisted that uniform doesn’t grant anyone to enter the restricted areas of the airports.

“It is still under investigation and we are going to look at the CCTV to see what transpired between them. Be it Boy Scout, Red Cross and others, you all have your roles to play. About five of our men were beaten critically by the officers, but until the investigation is concluded we cannot tell you what transpired today,” he said.

Also the Deputy Comptroller, Customs, MMIA, Mr. Mohammed Nurudeen Musa confirmed the incident in an interview with journalists, but said that investigations were ongoing to ascertain the true picture of what happened at the airside.

He insisted that Customs had cordial working relationship with other security agencies at the airport.

Also commenting the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Lagos Airport, Mr. Chuks Enwonwu assured that such dastardly act would not happen again among the security personnel and informed that the Customs would investigate the issue to the letter.

It would be recalled that NAF attached to the departure hall of MMIA on May 18, 2015 beat up a staff of FAAN for allegedly obstructing traffic at the terminal.