By Stephen Ubanna
Not may may were surprised that Olukayode Oladapo Afeni, a Deputy Comptroller, could be deployed to Ogun I, Idiroko, Ogun, home state of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The number of senior officers both Comptrollers and members of the Management Team between now and early 2026, and promotion of some Area Controllers to the Management cadre, appears to have created a lot of vacancies at the Command level that needed to filled up.
One of the strategic border Commands that needed that someone of enormous experience to occupy was Ogun I, which is both a revenue collection and an anti-smuggling Unit, following the redeployment of Compt. Gowin Otunla, who incidentally was a former Area Controller of the Command to Murtala Muhammed Airport, Command, Ikeja.
Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Customs Comptroller General, may have considered DC. Afeni, for the strategic border Command located in Ogun, former President Olusegun Obasanjo home state, which going by the Map of Nigerian Immigration Service, has over 90 illegal routes used by smugglers between Nigeria and the neighbouring Niger Republic to carry out their nefarious activities.
DC. Afeni, who some senior officers , who spoke to the Value News online had passed through the best hands in Customs anti-smuggling operations at the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A and equally underwent a tutelage under Bello Ahmadou Shaibu, a -one-time National Coordinator of the defunct , Comptroller General of Customs, Task Force , Lagos Zonal Office and now an Assistant Comptroller General , ACG, Enforcement, Inspection and Investigation, EII&I, at the Customs Headquarters, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, may have prepared him for the new national assignment, which many had described as very challenging.
Much of the Ogun I, new Area Controller may have to be centered on these three major Local government areas in Ogun state which includes, Ipokia, Yewa south and Imeko/ Afon, which shares boundary with Benin Republic.
Take for instance, at Ipokia, no major demarcation between Idiroko, which is on the Nigerian side of the border and Igolo, Community, which is Benin Republic. The border situation in Ipokia, LGA, and Benin Republic, is not different from most of the Communities in Yewa south LGA and Republic of Benin.
A visitor to Oja- Odan, Ilase, Ihunbo and Ketu, would be surprised that residents of the border Communities move freely as they speak one common Language, Yoruba. This may have informed why smuggling of foreign par boiled rice, Vegetable oil, poultry products, arms and ammunitions, had been very pronounced in the state. Past and immediate past Area Controller of the Command, Comp. Otunla, was said to have made several efforts including being very combative to deal decisively with the smugglers but that was how far he could go. This is where he has strengthened the Ihunbo and the Command’s other outstations to effectively monitor and control the activities of the smugglers without any casualty.
Just as Nigerians are expecting much from General Christopher Musa, immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, under President Bola Ahmed Tinu, much is also expected from DC. Afeni, acting Area Controller, Ogun I, Idiroko, to stop the smugglers, who beaten the Command and the FOU, Zone, Patrol team, officers on the road to freely smuggle foreign parboiled and poultry products, particular, to Ado Odo Ota and Abeokuta North Local government Areas of the Obasanjo home state and the foreign rice markets in neighbouring Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve-centre.
Given the enormous task ahead of him, in the Nigeria’s most strategic land border state, who had given his words not to betray the thrust reposed on him by CGC and his Management Team, had promised to deliver on his mandate and build on the Command’s achievements in ‘’trade facilitation, revenue generation and anti-smuggling operations’’.
The Customs Deputy Comptrollers, who is in a familiar terrain, may have gladdened the heart of the officers and men of the Command when he alluded to the fact that he is fully aware of ‘’the unique operational environment with its vast borders and its strategic importance to national security and the economy’’.
He may have put smiles on the face of Compt. Otunla, who may not have the expertise in anti-smuggling Operations but a pure revenue officer and an Administrator, when he declared ‘’I will consolidate on the gains recorded by the immediate past Area Controller of the Command, and further pursue continuous improvement in efficiency in the Command’s anti-smuggling operations that would be guided by intelligence -driven operations , stakeholder collaboration and involvement of the Traditional rulers, Baales and the youths of the border in every of the Command’s activities to ensure that’’ there is total peace’’.
Compt. Otunla, who had described his tenure at Ogun I, Command, Idiroko, as ‘’challenging and fulfilling’’, has a word of advice for his successor that cooperation with other security agencies like the Department of State Security, DSS, National Intelligence agency, NIA, Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Corps, NSCDC, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps , NSCDC, and the Army would assist him in his anti-smuggling operations and enhanced border security and crime control across the Command’s areas of jurisdictions’’.
DC. Feni’s impressive profile, professional experience and operational expertise ‘’, may have sent jitters down the spines of the smugglers as many of them since Thursday, November, 4, 2025, when information filtered out that he taken over from Compt. Otunla, were said to have adopted a wait and see attitude to know his next line of action to avoid playing into his hands and lose both money and smuggled goods to the Command.
