Adeyemi Quadri, the clearing agent who was shot on Wednesday by a Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) official belonging to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Ikeja, has narrated how the officer threatened him with death after shooting him and told his wife that he had already died.

As reported by FIJ, Quadri was shot at Mile 2 along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway on Wednesday, according to an eyewitness.

Narrating his ordeal during a brief interview with a journalist, an audio of which was passed on to FIJ by one of those who witnessed it, Quadri said he was coming from Tin Can when FOU officers stopped him at a location called ‘Mega Suya’.

“I’m an agent and I was the one driving the car; a cleared car,” he said.
“So they stopped me and said I should get down from the car. Before telling me that, they were slapping me, hitting me with gun.

“He brought out a knife and said he would stab me. He said I should bring the car key. When I wanted to disembark from the car, he shot me in the leg. The importer, the owner of the car, was sitting beside me.”

READ MORE: Customs Officer Shoots Clearing Agent Twice in the Leg at Mile 2

Continuing, Quadri said. “Nobody stopped him. When he shot me, I said ‘oga, look at my leg’. I wanted to crawl to leave that place, he said no no, I could not leave. He said he would push me inside the car and give me water so that I could die.

“I wanted to call some of my colleagues but he collected my phone, so it was a coincidence when my wife called to know my welfare. He told my wife your ‘husband don die.'”

Asked what exactly he did wrong to have warranted such treatment or if he did not pay the dues to clear the car and was instead trying to ‘fly the car’, he responded: “It is not possible; we cannot fly car from port.

“He said he wanted to check the documents. There was traffic; there was no way I could run from that place; there was traffic. I said ‘let me park, this place the traffic is not moving. There was still traffic gridlock when he shot me.”

Asked again if he was sure he was sure it’s a Customs officer and no a hoodlum that had shot him, he answered: “It was Customs officer from FOU. It was one of the officers that told him ‘leave this guy let him go’. They wanted to put me inside their truck, so he said ‘leave him.’”

When FIJ contacted Theophilus Duniya, a Deputy Superintendent of Customs, for comments on the incident, he replied with a press statement that blamed the occurrence on hoodlums preventing its patrol teams from moving an intercepted Toyota SUV to their office.

“While acting in self-defence, one of the hoodlums got injured,” he said.

Independent, public-interest journalism has never been more vital than in times like this when truth is constantly being suppressed. With your support, it will be easier for us to continue speaking truth to power and preserving your right to know.

Make a donation to FIJ today  
Donate Now