Juliana Francis
Two horrific videos, showing same incidents, in
different manners, yesterday were uploaded in the social media.
The first video registered the background voice of a
traumatized woman, screaming: “Customs has killed a person because of N5000.
We’re just returning from abroad, when Customs kill person. Jesus! Jesus! Just
because of N5000. We didn’t carry any exhibit, no exhibit and this Customs
officer just shot him.”
The traumatised woman, pointing at the Customs
officer that allegedly pulled the trigger, shouted: “You will die! You will
die! That gun, which you use to kill him, will kill you.”
While she continued to cry and scream, the video
clip showed a group of angry people, grabbing hold of a Customs officer. The
officer was inside a car, sitting at the driver’ seat, his uniform was stained with
blood and he appeared to be struggling with one of the men over possession of
the car keys. It appeared like he wanted to flee the scene, but the men
wouldn’t allow him. His head and collar of his uniform were stained with
blood. The video finally captured the
corpse of a man wearing dark trouser and a white top. While the video was
capturing the corpse, angry background voices could be heard asking one of the
Customs officers, “Why did you shoot?”
The video also showed the ground flowing with blood.
The clip further caught another Customs officer,
sitting on the ground, being slapped from different directions by angry people.
The Customs officer is the shooter, who earlier wanted to escape in the car.
The second scene video captured when the incident
just happened. One of the Customs officers was seen trying to use his hand to
stop a man from recording him. But the cameraman relentlessly followed him,
shouting, “I’m a citizen of this country.”
While the people were screaming at the Customs
officers for reasons unknown, a gunshot was heard. The voice of the man
handling the camera shouted: “Customs don kill person. Don’t let them go!
Customs have killed somebody. Don’t allow them to go. Nobody is going
anywhere.”
The shout was followed by the screams of a woman in
shock. A body was sighted on the ground; the bullet got the deceased on the
head, killing him instantly. Blood streamed from his head, turning the patched
ground crimson.
The Customs officer, after shooting, goes to check
if the victim was still alive; he raised the victim’s hands repeatedly, but it
fell back lifelessly.
The cameraman grabbed a stick from the Customs
officers’ van and hit it on the head of one of the Customs officer. The video
stopped rolling when someone shouted, “Do you people want to kill another
person?”
The incident was also said to have yesterday
morning. The two videos, which were uploaded on the internet, had been shared
several times, eliciting outrage.
Reacting to the incident, DC Joseph Attah Public
Relations Officer, speaking for the Comptroller-General of Customs said: “The
attention of Nigeria Customs Service has been drawn to a disturbing video going
viral with conflicting narratives. While it is painful and totally unnecessary
to loose life in anti-smuggling operations, today (yesterday) at Shagamu
interchange along Ijebu Ode, attempt to obstruct lawful performance of duty by
passengers of a commercial bus (a white Toyota Hiace) suspected to be carrying
bales of used clothing led to the death of a young man (Godwin) and serious
injury of a Customs Officer, ASC1, Destiny Onebamho.
“Contrary to some narratives, the young man was not
a passenger of the bus but a good citizen who always come to fetch water for
Customs Patrol men anytime they return to the base. Preliminary finding
indicate that it was during the skirmishes and struggle to disarm the Officer
that the rifle discharged and hit the friend of the Customs (Godwin) who lost
his life. The Service is already in touch with the bereaved family. Sadly, it
should be noted that while attention shifted to the dead and the wounded, the
passengers who filmed with inciting commentaries boarded their vehicle and
left, leaving the wrong impression that it was one of them that was killed.
While the wounded Officer is under intensive care at
the hospital, the patrol team has been recalled to the office for further
investigation.”
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