The House of Representatives has begun an investigation of the alleged extrajudicial killing of five persons in Iseyin, Oyo State, by men of the Nigeria Customs Service.
The House Committee on Customs and Excise grilled officials of the service at an investigative hearing, where the lawmakers condemned the Service over how it handled the crisis that followed the interception of rice smugglers on May 13, 2021.
A leader in the Iseyin community, Tijani Rasak, who spoke on behalf of the victims’ families, said, majority of those people that were killed were not smugglers.
Assistant Legal Adviser, Customs, Umar Lawal, said the men of the service did not kill anybody in the town.
Lawal explained that the men were on patrol and intercepted two Pathfinder SUVs laden with smuggled foreign rice.
According to him, the officers took charge of the seizure and on their way to the base, ran into a mob that blocked the road and attempted to dispose them of the seizure.
Chairman of the committee, Leke Abejide, asked that the Custom’s Area Controller and the Deputy Controller Enforcement in Oyo state to appear before the committee.
RN