The Nigeria Customs Service has said that it has withdrawn the officer and the team from the Federal Operations Unit, Zone C, of the service caught assaulting a civilian last week. The service also added that it had commenced an investigation into the matter.
In a statement on Monday, the National Public Relations Officer, NCS, Timi Bomodi, said that officers were trained to carry out duties with dignity and respect. Bomodi reiterated that where officers failed to carry out their duties as assigned, adequate sanctions would be applied to enforce discipline.
The statement reads in parts, “The attention of the Nigeria Customs Service has been drawn to a video making the rounds on social media. In it, one of our officers was recorded assaulting an unarmed civilian. This action took place on the Benin – Agbor expressway on Saturday the 7th of May 2022 at about 5.00 pm”
It was gathered that an officer attached to Zone C, Owerri of the service was seen in a video assaulting a civilian along Benin-Agbor expressway last weekend.
According to Bomodi, This officer and other members of that team from FOU Zone ‘C’ have since been withdrawn from patrol duties and are currently under administrative investigation at the NCS Zonal Headquarters Zone ‘C’ Port Harcourt. Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service have been trained to carry out their duties with dignity and respect, and are expected to display decorum in all their conduct at all times. Where they fail to carry out their brief as assigned, appropriate sanctions are applied to enforce discipline. The NCS would like to reassure the general public of its commitment to the welfare and safety of all citizens and frowns seriously at any act by its personnel capable of misrepresenting its corporate image”
He also said that the service is doing everything possible to address the issue. “We ask that all law-abiding persons go about their activities without fear of intimidation or harassment as we work assiduously to bring closure to this unwholesome incident” he concluded.
Source: The Punch
