A businessman identified as Ibrahim Oyeniyi on Wednesday accused some officials of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, of alleged unlawful seizure of his car and the theft of over N1.6m from the said car.
Oyeniyi, who trades in Forex and the founder of IBR-Global Markets Ltd, disclosed that NCS zonal officials from Ibadan, Oyo State on the 30th of November 2017 intercepted him and impounded his Mercedez Benz car, C240 along Lagos-Ibadan expressway in November, 2017.
He claimed that the NCS officials, who were in “mufti” took the car and left him in the middle of nowhere.
Following the incident, the businessman alleged that he had to trek from the point his vehicle was impounded to the nearest police station which was “Toll-Gate police station.”
Oyeniyi claimed that his belongings in the car include, the sum of N1.6M, banks Automated Teller Machine, ATM, cards among other items.
In a statement obtained by DAILY POST, the businessman said when he approached NCS zonal office in Ibadan in a bid to reclaim his car and belongings, he discovered that the money was missing and he was asked to get a genuine customs duty by one OC Enforcement, Moses.
On getting the document, Oyeniyi claimed he was asked to give a bribe of N250, 000 by the service officials which he refused.
Oyeniyi disclosed that when he protested against the bribe, the NCS officials sent him out of their office and threatened to detain him if he returns without the bribe.
The statement reads, “My name is Ibrahim O. Oyeniyi of No 40, Zone C Area, Apalara/Adeta Ilorin Kwara State who is the owner of the MERCEDES BENZ described above.
“I am a businessman whose line of business has to do with FX Portfolio Management. I am the Founder/CEO of IBR-GLOBAL MARKETS LTD. I do my business within and outside Nigeria diligently and in accordance with laid down rules and regulation which binds my business activities.
“On my way from Lagos to Ilorin, along Lagos –Ibadan Expressway on the 30th day of November 2017, I was stopped by men in mufti who were later discovered to be men of the Nigerian Customs Services. I showed them the customs duty of the car upon their request which they marked fake duty. This copy of the duty described as fake is hereby attached as Reference A.
“These men of the Nigerian Customs Service collected the car key from me and left without giving any means of identification and contact address, these people loaded themselves inside my car and zoomed off to an unknown destination. I was left on the dangerous road, I trekked down to the nearest police station which was the Toll-Gate police station.
“I made a complaint to the Nigeria Police Force at the Toll-Gate office and stated those items that were made away with my car. The items include the sum of One Million, Six Hundred Thousand Naira (=N=1,600,000.00) cash, A wristwatch, ATM Cards of Stanbic IBTC and Access Bank, Payment Tellers. The copy of the Extract from police diary obtained after lodging complaint to the police is hereby attached as Reference B.
“With several efforts with the assistance of the Nigeria Police, those men of customs were later discovered to be from the Zonal office of Customs Service in Ibadan. After due consultation with an official of the Zone (Mr. Moses), I was asked to go and prepare a genuine customs duty before I can be allowed access to my car. I consequently followed their directives by paying the customs duty. The copy of the said genuine duty is hereby attached as Reference C.
“In one of my visit to the Customs office in Ibadan after several pressures made by me to ensure my car was released, one of their officers gave others legal implications of the continuous detention of my properties after due compliance. After deliberation of some staffs in their inner office while I was asked to wait outside, Later, Mr. Moses instructed some officers to escort me to where the car was packed to search inside the car if my assets are intact, but unfortunately, One Million Six Hundred Thousand Naira (=N= 1,600.000.00) was missing. The recorded video showing this evidence is verily available upon request. . “Subsequently, I was asked to pay the sum of =N=250,000.00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira). When I protested against the bribe, I was sent out of their office. They threatened further that if I ever showed up in their office, I would be detained.”
Against the backdrop of the alleged bribe, Oyeniyi said his lawyer wrote a petition to the Comptroller General of NCS but they have refused to respond.
“Several letters of demand were written to the Zonal Office of the Nigerian Customs Service in Ibadan for the release of my car but all effort proved abortive as bribes were requested as a ransom for the release of my car.
“Furthermore, my lawyer wrote a petition to the Comptroller General of Customs in Abuja on the 9th Day of July, 2018 and the letter was acknowledged on the 10th Day of July 2018. Till date, I have not got any response from the Comptroller General’s office. The said copy of the petition is hereby attached as Reference D.
“As I’m writing this letter, my business is totally down and I was unable to secure my business contracts with our Brokerage Partners abroad (AFX Capital Markets Ltd, Cyprus and Equiti Group, Jordan) due to the stolen funds in my car. Said contracts with the two Partner Brokerage Houses worth $ 213,296.39 (Two Hundred and Thirteen Thousand, Two Hundred and Ninety Six US Dollars, Thirty-Nine Cents) which is approximately =N= 77,000,000.00 (Seventy-Seven Million Naira). Evidence to the contracts are available upon request and subject to confirmation from destination source,” he added.
When DAILY POST contacted Moses, the officer in charge of the matter, he confirmed that the Mercedez Benz was impounded but dismissed Oyeniyi’s claim of N1.6m theft.
He said, “They came and went to court, there is nothing they didn’t do. You too look at that statement, he claimed that we intercepted his vehicle but did I follow them on patrol?, no I’m in the office.
“Now, he came and was claiming he had N1.6m in his car, he met the officers but we knew the man was telling lies. How can you have N1.6m in your car when it was intercepted. How can somebody have N1.6m in his car? It’s not a small money in Nigeria. When you look at the Benz, how much will it cost?
“While trying to reclaim his vehicle, I asked him to go back to the person who sold the car to him and get the correct Customs papers, but he came back with fake documents and I sent him away.
“Now, according to him, I asked for N250,000, what is that for? let me tell you. ‘I’m collecting correct salary. My Comptroller, Hameed Ali is taking good care of us. When they came, there was nothing they didn’t do, they made all manner of threats that people will die and if you like you come to our office to verify.”
However, a video obtained exclusively by DAILY POST confirmed that Oyeniyi searched the vehicle in custody of NCS without the money.
Also, there are documents of his complaints at Toll-Gate Police Station, indicating his initial follow up.
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