By Stephen Ubanna
Barely five months after taken over from Compt. Dalha Wada Chedi, former Area Controller, of Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone B, Kaduna, who has been deployed to the Customs Headquarters Enforcemet, Investigations and Inspections, by Compt. Shuaibu Ahmadu Bello unrepentant smugglers may have known that it is no longer going to business as usual.
The new FOU, Zone B, Kaduna, Area Controller who was said to have given a matching order to the Command Patrol Team Leaders and those at the checkpoints in the in the north western states of Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kano , Jigawa and the north central states of Benue, Plateau, Kwara, Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to go all out and make Contraband seizures are not relenting in doing so.
The unrepentant smugglers may have known the beating of the drum have changed that they may have been forced to go back to the drawing board to restragise on how to beat Customs enforcement officers to it with their smuggled goods.
They may have gotten it wrong as the Customs Comptroller who is determined to make the Command areas of jurisdiction a no go area of smugglers. He was said to have engaged the services of someinformants in the faraway Anambra state Commercial town of Onitshato feed them with information on the type goods coming from the Commercial town to the states under its control to guide against taking drugs or other Contraband goods into any of the northern states within its control markets.
The diehard smugglers may have come to the come to the conclusion that going by the renewed anti-smuggling operations in the two regions superintended by FOU, Zone, Command, they may no longer have an escape route with their smuggled goods.
This may have informed why the unrepentant smugglers appears to have become more deadlier in their operations and ever ready to kill any officer who stand on their way to scare the officers. They may have sent a message to the FOU, Zone B, officers , we cannot lose our goods without get Patrol officer or checkpoint down.
Informed sources told The Value News that both for the advice given to the Patrol team officers and those at checkpoint ”to work as a team, adhere strictly to the rules of engagement in the discharge of their duties in conformity with the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS,, Act 2023”, there would have been casualties during operations as the officers have been provoked the officers to a limit by the smugglers .
Indeed, the smugglers who may not have been thinking along the line of saving life but derive joy in shedding of bloodmay have seen Customs personnel as enemies for daring to seize their goods which they claimed to have spent so much money to buy from the neighbouring Benin Republic for the Nigerien market. However , the goods may have developed K-leg on the way to enter the Nigerian territory which the NCS operatives, could not have spared and which may have turned the smugglers to hit and run drivers.
The incident on Friday , July 12, 2024,at Achilafia along Daura-Kano road in Jigawa state during a routine stop and search operation by the FOU, Zone B, Kaduna, enforcement officers speaks volume.
Given an insider information, Isah Suleiman, a Superintendent of Customs and the Command spokesperson had said that the incident occurred when a vehicle suspected ”to have been smuggled into the country was flagged down but refused to stop”.
The Customs Superintendent had said that the vehicle smuggler in an attempt to evade arrest had hit one Hamza Abdullahi Elenwo, an Inspector of Customs into unconsciousess. Given the seriousness of the injury sustained by the officer from the hit and run smuggler that requires immediate medical attention, the officer, according to the FOU, Zone B, spokesperson, he was rushed to the General Hospital, Kazure for first Aide treatment. He was said to have been transferred to the Federal Medical Centre,, Katsina, capital of home state of former President Muhammadu Buhari for proper medical attention. He was said to have been confirmed dead by the Doctor on duty on arrival. at the Hospital which was bad news to the offices.
The death of the officer may have unsettled Compt. Shuaibu, the Command Area Controller, who was said to have been reached immediately by the team leader and other officers because of his open door policy . The deceased, Supt. Suleiman had said has been laid to rest in Katsina city, according to Islamic rites.
An insider told The online Magazine that the FOU, Zone B, Area Controller who had been unhappy since Friday, that he had heard about the incident have only managed to have short nap on Saturday, July 13, 2024, as he was said used his contacts to bring the situation under control to avoid a breakdown of Law and order in the area because of the death ofthe officer.
Many believe that both not for the intervention of the Customs Comptroller, it would have been a different ball game for smugglers that might want to pass through the route with their smuggled goods as they might not find it funny because of what they will meet on ground.
Recall that Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel and former Customs Comptroller had told the Area Controller of the FOUs and other interventionist units to ensure that whenever one officer is killed by smugglers, the arm bearing officers should ensure that they kill three to five of them in revenge instead of lamenting.
There is no gain saying the fact that the fact that the FOU, Zone B, Kauna officers may have been pushed to the wall that it will be too bad for the smugglers as the enforcement officers are going to be hard on them . The anger in the face of the Comptroller, who had never lost an officer in the hands of the smugglers throught his six months of overseeing ant-smuggling operations in Ogu,, home state of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which had over 90 illegal routes as the Area Controller of Ogun I, Idiroko.
The Customs Controller , on behalf of the entire officers and Men of the unit, was said to have extended his heartfelt condolence to the deceased family in PortHarcourt, capital of Rivers state and prayed for his eternal rest.
An aggrieved Cmpt. Shuaibu, had said that the Jigawa state incident shows how desperate the smugglers operating in the north western geopolitical region , particular, have become as they have no respect for human lives but out to kill and maim personnel of the service in an attempt to evade arrest.
The hit and run smuggler may have escaped but one of the suspect was said to have been arrested and currently in the custody of the Nigerian Police Force, NPF, Giwiwa Division in Jigawa state. This may have emboldened the Customs Area Controller to beat his chest that he will do everything within his powers to ensure that Justice is done as a deterrent to other smugglers who might want to kill an officer carrying out his legitimate duties and still believe that he can escape into tin air.
Many believe that under Compt. Shuaibu , it is not possible for any officer to kill an officer and escape because of the reorientation of the enforcement Command officers in the anti-smuggling war.
