Nigeria’s investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo, has alleged that men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in the early hours of Wednesday unloaded yet-to-be-quantified bags of smuggled rice at the ultra modern market built by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola Yayi in Lusada, Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Soyombo, founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, who made the disclosure on Wednesday morning in a statement on his verified social media account, also said that the Customs officers are moving the rest of the smuggled rice to Lagos through Totowu River in a village at Igbesa, a route through which the smugglers will burst out at Igando in Lagos.
He further noted that today (Wednesday) is Lusada market day, alleging that every Customs officers involved in the smuggling including the Nigerian Customs fieldmen and top-ranked officers sitting in their offices had been settled to enable the easy move of the smuggled rice.
He wrote, “As I write this, your men are currently helping smugglers sneak loads of bags of rice into Nigeria from the Benin Republic.
“I am yet to establish if this movement is a constituent of the over 6,500,000kg of rice originally billed to be smuggled in with over 2,000 cars, but the smugglers, enabled by your officers, are currently passing through Alapoti to Ketu Adie Owe to Lusada in Ado Odo/Ota LGA of Ogun State.
“Some bags have already been unloaded at the ultra modern market built by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola YAYI in Lusada, while the rest are en route to Lagos via Totowu River in a village at Igbesa. That way, the smugglers will burst out at Igando.
“Today is Lusada market day, so everyone involved, including your fieldmen and the ones with big titles sat back in their offices who have since been ‘settled’, will be laughing all the way to the bank at the expense of the local economy.
“Tomorrow, these same men will announce the phantom seizure of smugglers’ rice; don’t think we don’t know that these are smugglers who didn’t bribe your officers, or that many of the seized bags will end up in markets all the same!”
SaharaReporters had reported that Soyombo on Sunday alleged that Nigerian customs officers had conspired with Adeyemi Habeeb Abdulganiy, an alleged multi-billionaire-naira smuggler better known as Abuga, to illegally pass about 2000 cars and smuggle in bags of rice into the country.
He said the illegal operation was slated to take place on Sunday, 10th of November, 2024.
However, the NCS National Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada, had told SaharaReporters that Fisayo’s claims were fictitious.
Maiwada had said it was illogical for anyone to believe their personnel were involved in the illegal operation.
But in a post he shared on Tuesday morning, Soyombo released two more videos to substantiate his smuggling allegations against the customs officers.