Suspend PRO for defending killer officer, NGO tells Customs

Mon, Feb 18, 2019 | By publisher


Security

A non-governmental organisation wants the public relations officer of the Nigerian Customs Service sanctioned for supporting an officer who alleged killed an unarmed man

By Emeka Ejere

 

Vanguard of Democracy, a civil society organisation, has condemned in strong terms the statement by Joseph Attah, the public relations officer of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, in defence of a customs official, who allegedly shot dead a man, describing it as an unacceptable insult to the sensibility of Nigerians.

A viral video had shown an official of the NCS shoot a man dead along Lagos/Benin Road on Sunday, February 17, allegedly over N5,000. The video, showing some passengers of a white vehicle stopped by a team of customs officers along the road, captures the customs officer shoot dead one of the passengers.

A statement by Ugo-Akpe Onwuka, convener of the group, called for immediate suspension and subsequent redeployment of Attah for, according to him, bringing the image of the customs service to ridicule and public disdain.

“First of all, we demand that the public relations officer, who wrote that defence be suspended for bringing the customs service’ image, he is meant to protect, to ridicule and public disdain”, the statement said.

According to the statement, Attah’s action was a very glaring evidence of gross incompetence and ineptness of a terrifying magnitude, which must be urgently investigated.

The group said, reading the press statement by Attah, one would wonder “what he would have written if the cold blooded act of shooting a man in broad daylight in a gangland style was not caught on live video.”

The statement said in part: “We are particularly concerned about the response from the customs service because this singular action can be misconstrued to be a reflection of such an organization that should be an example of transparency and sincerity.

 

– Feb. 18, 2019 @ 05:50 GMT |

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