Customs officer slapped judge –Task force

Lagos State Task Force on Environment and Special Offence Unit at the weekend accused two officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of attacking a Magistrate of the state Mobile Court, Mr. Lekan Aka-Bashorun, and carted away court exhibits as well as recording gadgets.

The task force also alleged that a fully armed Nigerian Customs Assistant 1, Mr. S. S. Yusuf, with Service No 48730 and an Identification Card No 368 attached to the Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A,’ Ikeja, slapped Aka-Bashorun for ordering court officials to impound Customs officers’ private vehicles for traffic offences.
The task force Public Affairs Officers, Mr. Taofik Adebayo, told journalists yesterday that the officers were attached to the Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A,’ Ikeja. Adebayo said armed Customs officers also beat two para-military officials and rough handled two Superintendents of Police attached to task force – Supol Sunday Ikharere and Supol Adeloye Okunola – at the gate of their premises at Ikeja.
He said: “Officers of the Nigerian Customs Service at Ikeja who trooped out en masse angrily and violently re-acted to the operatives of the Lagos Mobile Courts claiming that they were Federal Government agency and were fully exempted from any of the Lagos State Government laws particularly the Lagos State Road Traffic Laws of 2012.
“The operatives of the court had commenced its operations from Allen Avenue at Ikeja impounding both commercial and private vehicles for various traffic offences down to Nigerian Customs Operations Unit, Ikeja area where private vehicles were flagrantly parked along the walkways beside an illegal car wash despite a ‘NO PARKING’ sign printed by the management of Nigerian Customs on the walls of the premises.” When contacted, the FOU Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Uche Ejesieme, confirmed the report.
Ejesieme, however, said the misunderstanding had been resolved by the Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni and FOU Comptroller, Umar Dahiru. He said: “Indeed there was a minor misunderstanding between our operatives and the police task force.
We admit it was unprofessional, but the matter has been resolved because of the respect the two security agencies have for each other. We have to reiterate that FOU is not a lawless Customs unit and cannot excuse lawlessness. What happened has been settled.”https://newtelegraphonline.com/customs-officer-slapped-judge-task-force/