By Adaku Onyenucheya
Petroleum marketers operating at Idiroko in Ipokia Local Council of Ogun State have called for the arrest of Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, over alleged impounding and auctioning of 24 petrol-laden tankers as scrap.
The Guardian reported on Monday that Justice Shittu Abubakar of the Federal High Court, Abeokuta, on August 9, 2022, ordered the organisation to return 24 trucks with content illegally impounded to owners.
(NCS), Hameed Ali, over alleged impounding and auctioning of 24 petrol-laden tankers as scrap.
The Guardian reported on Monday that Justice Shittu Abubakar of the Federal High Court, Abeokuta, on August 9, 2022, ordered the organisation to return 24 trucks with content illegally impounded to owners.
But, rather than obeying the judgment, NCS instead allegedly auctioned the tankers with contents. Speaking on behalf of the sellers at their secretariat in Ogun State, yesterday, legal representative of Idiroko-Ipokia Area Petroleum Dealers & Marketers Association, George Oyeniyi, put the supposed disposed trucks and contents at N1.56 billion.
He said: “Sometime in 2019, that was around November 9, petroleum dealers and marketers woke up to the news that NCS has issued a circular suspending supply of petroleum products from within 20 kilometres to the border. However, most of these marketers already had petroleum products that had been booked days before the day of the Customs circular in their various stations about to be discharged into their underground storage facilities.
“Due to this confusing situation, the Customs Area Controller of Idiroko Customs Command as at that time, Controller Michael Agbara, called petroleum marketers to a meeting, where he gave them a four-day grace to dispose off all petroleum products in their various filling stations before enforcement of the circular.
“However, two days after that circular, NCS officials from Ikeja, backed by military men, raided all filling stations in Idiroko in the dead of the night, towing away fully loaded petroleum tankers to the military barracks in Owode to the tune of 19, while another five fully loaded ones were towed to the Customs formation here in Idiroko.
“The Customs officials, led by one ACG Amajan, started looking for buyers for the petroleum products. It was after the petroleum marketers discovered that Customs was about selling off the petroleum products and auctioning off the trucks that they contacted me and a case was instituted in court.
“An application for injunction stopping Customs from tampering with the petroleum tankers and their content was then filed in court and the judge granted an interlocutory injunction. That was in July 2020. While the case was still in court, the trucks detained inside the military barracks in Owode were moved to Ikorodu where they were auctioned.
“The judge presiding over the case had given a judgment that all the 24 petroleum tankers should be returned to owners. The judge also granted the marketers N20 million damage against Customs and N2 million as cost of prosecuting the case. This judgment was delivered on August 9, 2022. However, despite the judgment, Customs did not appeal within 90 days and has not complied with the order of court. We have filed Form 48 notifying the CG of Customs of the court judgment and will be filing Form 49 on the NCS very soon.”
Also speaking, one of the leaders, Lukmon Jamiu, corroborated Oyeniyi.
Jamiu, who is also Managing Director of Mayuf Oil and Gas, claimed that the CAC gave ordered invasion of filling stations and impounding of parked trucks.
In his remarks, Managing Director of Amlad Petroleum, Abdul-lateef Hameed, alleged that his truck seized at Owode while being repaired.
Source: The Guardian
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