The Senate has berated the Nigeria Customs Service -NCS over the alleged incessant killing and shootings of Nigerians, particularly those living in border communities.
The Senate particularly condemned the indiscriminate shooting by Customs officers in Katsina State on July 13. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, thereafter, set up an ad hoc committee to investigate allegations of abuse and human rights violations against the NCS.
The decision followed a motion moved by the senator representing Katsina Central, Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, calling on the Red Chambers to investigate the abuse of firearms by the Customs officers.
Yar’Adua, while presenting his motion, said some Customs officials had been found to be unprofessional in the handling of firearms, leading to needless loss of the lives of innocent citizens. He claimed that some officers of the NCS on the Gorar Yammama highway in Katsina State shot indiscriminately at the vehicle conveying the Chief of Staff to the state Governor, Jabiru Tsauri, on July 13.
The lawmaker argued that the refusal of the authorities to check the abuse of firearms by officers of the NCS might lead to the loss of more innocent lives and possible reprisal by angered civilians. He, therefore, asked the Senate to condemn the July 13 incident and fish out the officers that shot at the government convoys.