News

Customs FOU Ikeja Intercept Goods Worth N2bn in Two Weeks

Published

8 years ago

August 13, 2018

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Ikeja of the Nigerian Customs Service, has announced that as a result of its reinvigorated efforts in anti-smuggling in the South West zone, it has intercepted various contraband items with a duty paid value of Two Billion, Fifty Five Million, Three Hundred and Twenty One Thousand, Three Hundred and Eighty-Nine Naira Eighty Four Kobo in just two weeks between July 25 and August 7, 2018.

Addressing pressmen on the seizures in what appears to be his farewell address as the helmsman of the unit, Comptroller Mohammed Uba, said the items cut across various standards ranging from food, automobiles, drugs, wears and many more.

Notably among the items seized were 2, 748 cartons of DSP codeine cough syrup and 95 cartons of Chaka pain Xtra being conveyed in a MAN truck along Afromedia Estate, by Egbeda Junction valued at N1, 175, 200, 000.00. In addition, 49 cartons of tramadol were evacuated from a warehouse in Ajao Estate. Uba hinted that all seizures were products of intelligence gathering.

Among other major seizures the Customs chief presented to the press were 21 sacks of pangolin scales, weighing 1,031kg and four pieces of elephant tusks weighing 29.35kg, evacuated from a shop in Tejuoso Market by a team led by AC Mutalib Sule. The items have a duty paid value of N253, 566, 056. 07.

Other items the Controller showcased included one ford transit bus, which was intercepted along Olorunda axis of Ogun State with 39 sacks and 1,220 parcels of Cannabis Sativa (Indian Hemp) weighing 1, 610. These items were well concealed in between food items like tomatoes, vegetables and so. Comptroller Uba confided that the items will be handed over to the appropriate agency for further investigation in the spirit of inter-agency relationship.

There were also seizures of 17 units of exotic vehicles, 1, 380 bags of parboiled rice, 1, 126 pieces of used shoes as well as 140 cans of vegetable oil.

While appreciating the press for the encouragement and cooperation he received from them as his tenure lasts, he pleaded that the same kind of cooperation and more be extended to his successor, who he described as a ‘good’ person.

He further extended his appreciation to the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) and his management team for the logistic supports they released which made all the seizures possible and all sister agencies including the army, Police and others for rendering necessary support in the war against smuggling.

Comptroller Uba is due to take up a new mandate at the Seme Area Command.

News

El-Rufai’s Son, Bello, Dumps APC, Joins ADC

Published

23 hours ago

May 7, 2026

Eric

Bello El-Rufai, the son of former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The speaker said Bello El-Rufai joined the ADC alongside two members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Kaduna State — Reps Umar Ajilo and Suleiman Yahaya Richifa.

He also announced the defection of Kamilu Ado, a lawmaker from Kano State, from the ADC to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

The Speaker also announced the resignation of Rep. Joshua Obika, representing the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency of the Federal Capital Territory, from the APC to the NDC.

The defected members, however, cited internal crises and uncertainty within their former parties as reasons for their defections.

News

Gunmen Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers on Benin-Ore Expressway

Published

3 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a commercial bus operated by GUO Transport along the Benn-Ore expressway, killing the driver and abducting several passengers in what underscores Nigeria’s deepening insecurity on major highways.

Reports indicate that the assailants ambushed the South East-bound vehicle, opened fire on the driver, who died at the scene, and subsequently whisked away passengers to an unknown destination.

The incident is believed to have occurred along a notorious stretch of the highway linking the South-West to the South-South, long plagued by banditry and abductions.

While official confirmation from security agencies is expected, local sources and a circulating video showed that passengers might have forcefully been taken into nearby forests, a tactic commonly employed by kidnapping syndicates operating along the corridor. Similar attacks in the past have involved mass abductions, with victims later released after ransom payments.

News

Police Retirees Block Aso Rock Gate, Demand Action on Pension Scheme

Published

3 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Some retirees of the Nigeria Police Force under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja demanding President Bola Tinubu sign the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly in December 2025.

The bill seeks to withdraw the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The protesters, under the scorching sun, walked from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja through the street in front of the Police Headquarters.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, in addition to the Nigerian flag and the flag of the Nigeria Police Force.

Led by its National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu, the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme as fraudulent and illegal.

They also said the CPS is inhumane and obnoxious.

According to them, the protest seeks to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to the President on 16th March 2026.

They said that when signed into law, the Act will totally exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa, causing obstruction to vehicular movement.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing songs of solidarity, while some of them lay on the floor.

As of the time of filing this report, no one from the Villa had addressed the protesters.

CSP Irowainu said that their main purpose is to prevail on President Tinubu to sign the bill exiting the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS, which he said has been passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

He lamented that while other security agencies in the country such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and others have all been exited from the scheme, the police remain trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill—the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” CSP Irowainu said.

It is not the first time retired officers are staging a protest over the CPS. In July last year, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Some of the retired police officers also besieged the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest against the CPS.

Addressing the protesters at the time, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, said the welfare of retired police officers was being addressed, but that the exit of the Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme was not something that could be implemented immediately.

He, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the Force could not abandon its own.