Hell was let loose in Ibadan when members of the Motor Dealer Association (MDA), Oyo State chapter stormed the Nigerian Customs Service office to protest the death of one of their colleagues which they blamed on the action of some Customs officers. Sunday Mirror learnt that the deceased motor dealer, identified as 32 year-old, Tunde Abdul was said to have being knock down by a truck around 4:30am on Saturday at Alapako, Lagos/Ibadan expressway when he was stopped by some Custom officers led by one Kunle Yinusa. It was gathered that a DAF truck with registration number Osun: PRN-123 XA wanted to avoid a pothole but lost control and hit the three cars that were cleared from Lagos port by late Abdul and two orders. The angry motor dealers blocked the road along Bodija-Secretariat axis beside the Nigerian Customs office in protest of the killing of their colleague in circumstances they described as “unacceptable.”
It was learnt that late Abdul is survived by a pregnant wife and a child.
The Public Relations Officer of MDA, Pastor Vincent Ayodeji, while addressing journalists at the Customs office in the presence of the wailing members of the association, said the harassment by Custom officers on their members along Lagos/Ibadan expressway has become incessant, stressing that all the vehicles being transported from Lagos port to Ibadan are legally cleared.
He said, “We heard this morning that some of our members while bringing two cars from Lagos were stopped by Custom officers around Alapako at the border between Oyo and Ogun State around 4am, so they asked for the papers of the cars and they showed them but the Custom officer asked them for a bribe which they didn’t give them. They therefore insisted that the papers are not genuine and told them to wait till day break to be able to confirm from their office. While they were waiting a truck coming from the opposite direction of the road crushed the vehicles.
“Unfortunately one of our three members died, his name is Tunde Abdul, one injured and that is why we have come here to allay our grievances over the exorbitant of the Custom officers who are in the habit of harassing our members unjustly after tendering legal papers of the vehicles we are bringing into the state”
Ayodeji alleged further that it has become the tradition of the Custom officers to be demanding bribes from their members after clearing their vehicles legally from the Lagos port.
He then called on the leadership of the Nigerian Customs Service and government to conduct proper investigation into the issue and allow justice to prevai by apprehending the officers involved.
Efforts to get to the reaction of the Public Relations Officer of Customs in the state, Njeoma Nkiru, proved abortive as her phone numbers were not reachable.