A delegation sent by the Controller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali, led by the Zonal Coordinator Zone “B”, NCS Acting ACG, Uba Muhammad has visited Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari at the Government House, to present a letter of condolence to the government on the tragedy in the state as well as beg the Governor to drop his threat of legal action over the recent killing of Katsina citizens by border drill operatives.
The visit followed the recent Customs’ vehicle accident in Jibia, a border town in Katsina, which killed at least 10 people and injured several others.
A visibly-angered Masari told the delegation that the victims must be adequately compensated and the culprits prosecuted.
He said: “If that was not done, the state would have no other option than to try the legal system in ensuring justice to the victims of the unfortunate incident.”
“Convey our message to your Comptroller-General that our position is very clear that you must compensate those who lost their lives and those who sustained injury and prosecute those who did it. Failure to do that, we will take the necessary legal action. We may not succeed, but we will test it.”
Masari, who said he was only forced to receive the delegation in his office, told the delegation that the Nigerian Customs Service was biased against Katsina people despite the massive support given by those indigenous to the state towards the development of the agency.
He further wondered why a distance of about 40 kilometres from Katsina to Jibia, which has 28 checkpoints of the Customs, should record such an ugly incident.
In a related development, Governor Masari has warned families of those killed by the Customs border drill operatives not to fall to any covert enticements from the Nigerian Customs Service.
Masari, who gave the warning while on a condolence visit to Jibia to see the families of the victims and the injured said doing so will jeopardise efforts by the state government to secure justice for the bereaved and the injured.
