The Chairman Senate Committee on Local Content and lawmaker representing Oyo Central, Senator Teslim Folarin has condemned in strong terms, the killing of four persons by men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), on Eid-l-Fitr day (Thursday), in Iseyin, Oyo State.
A statement signed by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Oyo Central Senator, Com. YSO Olaniyi, says five residents who were celebrating Eid-l-Fitr were hit by stray bullets during an encounter between Customs officers and smugglers.
The News Carrier NG reports that the men of NCS started shooting after intercepting smuggled goods coming through the boarders when they got into the town.
Four persons died instantly while the fifth person is under intensive-care unit at an undisclosed hospital. The identities of the victims are yet to be ascertained.
Senator Folarin while commiserating with bereaved families, urge protesting residents to remain calm. He pledged to collaborate with his colleague, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (Oyo North) and other stakeholders to ensure sweeping investigation into the sad incident with a view to getting justice for the victims.
Parts of the statement read:
“I am deeply concerned and saddened that this recklessness is recurring so soon, after the invasions of Ibadan markets by men of Nigeria Customs Service”
While I do not support economic sabotage, I strongly condemn the needless killings. Recklessness and unprofessional conduct by the constituted security personnel can no longer be tolerated.
“This exuberance use of power hundreds of kilometres inland away from the international borders by Customs Officers cannot be justified by any logic. I am of the believe that if the officers of NCS had demonstrated patriotic zeal in the discharge of their duties at the border posts and several custom checking points located along the roads leading from the borders, the public would have been saved of the agonies and needless loss of lives”.
“The NCS and other law enforcement agents must embrace proper decorum and civility in the discharge of their duties in order to avoid acts capable of breaching public peace and putting the government in a bad light among the citizenry.
“I am joining my brother and distinguished colleague, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari and other concerned stakeholders to demand a sweeping investigation into the incident with a view to bringing the involved officers to book in order to serve as a deterrent to others”.
Gory pictures of some of the victims as captured by naijatodaynews
