The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has called for the immediate suspension of border drill across their operational areas in Katsina State.
The group made the demand in a letter addressed to the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service Hameed Ali on Thursday following the death of about eight persons due to a brake failure from one of its operational vehicles.
CNG’s northwest coordinator Jamilu Charanchi who signed the letter called on the service to continue taking care of the victims until they are fully recovered and appealed for aid to the family of the victims considering that the victims cannot move to pursue their daily bread.
Charanchi while underscoring the need for the NSC to be seriously warned against pursuing alleged smugglers in town said financial compensation should be paid to the families of the deceased with immediate effect.
The Coalition, however, urged the traditional rulers, religious leaders, elders, intellectuals, the cultured section of politicians, the professionals, youth and students, businessmen and women, civil servants, civil society organisations, and the general public to mobilize and resist the reckless activities of the men of Nigeria Customs Service for their own personal benefits.
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“We salute the spirit of patriotism and humanity shown by the Special Adviser to his Excellency, the Executive Governor of Katsina State on Security Matters, Ibrahim Ahmad Katsina for his prompt action to ensure the intervention of state command of the Nigerian Customs Service, for the victims to have access to a medical facility, we deemed honoured.
“We address this letter to you with a deep sense of patriotism and a strong concern for the lives of our people lost almost on a daily basis as a result of actions of customs officers on patrol in Katsina and other border communities of northern Nigeria.
“Putting aside fine phrases, the CNG Katsina State Chapter specifically refers to the recent unfortunate incident of the killing of 10 and injuring several of our people by reckless Customs personnel on the pursuit of a suspected smuggler in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.
“We address you, Sir, consciously believing that as the head of the service, you will accept and treat this as a warning from history which repeats itself, according to Karl Marx, once as a farce and twice as a tragedy”, the statement said.
The group lamented the situation and called for it to be addressed to prevent the breakdown of law and order which may consume more lives.
“Finally, while we remain vigilant over the direction and fate of our state, it should also be clear that the Youth are the major stakeholders in whatever happens in the state, and the Leaders will be making a terrible mistake if it assumes that was a mere pushover to be turned into marginal elements in all calculations on the future of our dear state,” the CNG added.
To this end, he said, normalcy has been restored after the Commissioner of Police, CP Sanusi Buba drafted police officers to the area.
A resident of the area, Abdulrazak Ahmad told Channels Television via a telephone conversation that several persons lost their lives and twenty others injured and rushed to the hospital for medical treatment.
He explained that the incident took place following a dispute between the Customs officers and a businessman who was conveying a bag of foreign rice on a motorcycle from Jibia town to his village called “Faru” situated along Zamfara Road.
The officers’ vehicle while targeting to chase the suspected rice smuggler ran into a gathering, killing many and injuring others.
“What happened was that the customs officers pursued the man to arrest him after seeing him from the far. The driver of the Customs vehicle who was running at a high speed, unfortunately, drove over the man to death, along with more than 17 other people who are conducting their business by the roadside,” he noted.
He said, “20 people were reportedly injured as a result of the accident on the street and have since been rushed to the General Hospital in Jibia for a medical treatment.”
In the meantime, some youth had a short and peaceful protest in the town to register their anger over the incident.
