Posted by On Wednesday, the Nigerian Senate passed a resolution to probe the NCS’s alleged use of excessive force using guns.
In response to a motion condemning the alleged death of residents in Kastina State by armed Customs agents, the senator from Katsina Central, Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, introduced the resolution.
In a motion headed “Urgent Need to Investigate the Abuse of Firearms by Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, in Katsina State,” YarAdua alleged that there have been frequent homicides in the state. He deemed the situation intolerable and demanded that police be given adequate firearms training.In order to successfully fight the actions of smugglers, who have recently become more brazen in their attacks on customs employees, he stated that customs officers should be authorized to carry firearms.
He claims that NCS agents were supposed to treat Nigerians with respect but instead have resorted to murder. The former governor of Katsina State, he said, had vowed to sue NCS for the recent deaths in the state.
He went on to say that Customs officers at the Gorar Yammama Highway opened fire on a car carrying the governor’s Chief of Staff and some of the governor’s closest advisors and family members.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio considered the motion and appointed Senator Francis Fadahunsi to head the newly formed committee.
Akpabio made the comment that the Senate needs to have a broad view of the problem, and that killing innocent people is no longer an option.
Other members of the committee include senators Shuaibu Lau (PDP, Taraba), Kawu Sumaila (NNPP), Tony Nwoye (LP, Anambra), Umar Sadiq (APC, Kwara), Akpan Samson (PDP, Akwa Ibom), Solomon Adeola (APC, Ogun), Abdulaziz Yar’Adua (APC, Katsina), Olajide Emmanuel (APC, Ondo), Mohammed Muntari (APC, Katsina), and Napoleon Bali (PDP, Plateau).
They had six weeks to get their report to the Committee of the Whole.