Alleged N2000 bribe: Customs officer shoots conductor to death

…two days after wife delivers via CS

*Nobody was killed, figment of imagination –Customs PRO

The Abule-Egba area of Lagos State was enveloped in tension after a trigger happy Nigerian Customs Officer opened fire on a bus conductor, killing him instantly.

Angry eye witnesses claimed that the argument and subsequent shooting was over the officer’s demand of a N2000 bribe from the conductor, identified as Toheeb Olayiwola, 22.

Incidentally, the deceased’s young wife was said to have just put to bed on Monday, while he was killed on Wednesdays. Family members said he had been happy, preparing for his baby’s naming ceremony, which was expected to take place on coming Monday.

The shooter and his other colleagues, were alleged to have demanded N2000 from Olayiwola after they flagged him down and discovered that he was carrying 10 bags of rice. The bus driver was said to have told them that he didn’t have any money to give to them.

For reasons yet unknown, one of the Customs officers was alleged to have opened fire on the bus.

The bullet hit Olayiwola on the head and he died immediately on the spot. The driver, however, escaped with bullet wounds.

Another eyes witness identified the Customs officers as Fola, Tunde and Sola, all attached to Federal Unit Operations patrol. The eye witness said that the officer called Fola was the person that took the killing shot.   

He added: “We saw when the Custom officers were arguing with the bus driver. Later, we heard several gun shots, which drew attention of people. Before people could get closer, the officers bolted. Even the driver was covered in blood. The bus conductor died immediately.”

A rice dealer, Kikelomo Ajayi said: “What happened was that one of my customers from Agege came to Ota and brought 30 bags of rice from me.  I assisted him to call two commercial buses, to take the rice to Agege in Lagos State. The first vehicle carried 20 bags, while the second bus carried the 10 bags of rice.

“The boy that was killed by the Customs officers was in the commercial bus that carried 10 bags of rice. In fact, a few minutes after the drivers left my shop, I received a call that Custom officers had killed Toheeb, the bus conductor of one of buses I hired. I was shocked. Toheeb even assisted in loading the rice into their bus.

“I drove straight to under bridge, at Abule-Egba, where the incident happened. I saw the dead body of Toheeb on the ground.   People that know me said that it was three Customs officers, Fola, Tunde and Sola, who they usually give money to that attacked them. The bus driver told me, that any time they passed through the place, he always gives them N2000.

“But today, he didn’t have any money to give them. Meanwhile, the first bus that carried 20 bags of rice had gone far.  I heard that as Toheeb’s bus wanted to move, one of the officers behind, opened fire and the bullet hit the conductor. We went to get Police Report from Oke-Odo Police Station, so we would go to the General Hospital Ikeja to collect his body.”

The rice dealer further explained that it was when she got to the scene of the incident that she heard that the Lagos State Ambulance had taken the corpse away.

Ajayi said: “I heard that the Customs officer told policemen that came to the scene that they killed a smuggler. My question to the Customs authority is this; do smugglers operate in the city? The bus plies Agege to Agbodo Bus stop. I don’t know when Agege to Agbodo became a route for smugglers of rice. I learnt that the officer shot two of the people in the bus, while Toheeb died, the other ran away with gun wound.”

Ajayi brought out six empty bullets allegedly shoot by the Customs officers.

She noted: “Toheeb was in my place yesterday. His wife gave birth on Monday. He was looking for money to discharge them from the hospital because she had the baby through Caesarean Section.”

Toheeb’s elder brother, Salami, 27, said he was heading to office, when he received a call that Customs Officers shot and killed his brother.

He said: “I quickly ran to the place and to my shock, I saw Toheeb’s body on the main road. A young who left his home this morning to look for what, he and his family would eat, lies dead in a pool of blood. His wife is still in the hospital since Monday she gave birth. There was no money to discharge her.”

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Oke- Odo Police Station, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr Ben Adeola, appealed to the angry mob to be calm.

Adeola said: “I can assure you that things are under control. You can see that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police and his Deputy on operations were here to see things for themselves. This is to show you that police are on it.”

Yesterday, however, Customs authority, Controller Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, denied that anyone was killed in the encounter.

Mr Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer of the Unit, said: “On January 17, 2018, around 5:30am, Operatives of the Federal Operations Unit, acting on a tip-off traced one LT Bus Loaded with unspecified bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice from Sango Area and eventually stopped it at Abule Egba. Before he was finally halted at Abule Egba, the driver started shouting and making inciting comments that attracted mob action against the officers with different dangerous weapons such as broken bottles, stones and cutlasses. Obviously, he had driven to where he could get his associates to help attack the Customs Officers. Given support of the mob, he resisted lawful arrest and the other armed operatives fired shots in the air to disperse the raging mob but to no avail. As a responsible organization, the Officers retracted back to avoid any casualty.  We appreciate and thank God that no life was lost as at the time of the confrontation even though two of our officers sustained injuries.

For the avoidance of doubt, the fact that a smuggler has evaded scrutiny either by following unapproved route or compromising any Officer does not guarantee that the smuggled item will not be seized anywhere it is found by patrol officers whose duty is to ensure compliance.”

The Controller, Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, Comptroller Mohammed Uba, while lamenting the misleading report urges media practitioners to verify their facts before rushing to the press.