• Eyewitness – He resisted arrest, attempted to snatch their gun
• Customs – He is a guest of the Attorney General of the Federation
Frontline freight forwarder and chieftain of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr Lucky Eyis Amiwero was yesterday whisked away by gun-wielding operatives of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service.
• Eyewitness – He resisted arrest, attempted to snatch their gun
• Customs – He is a guest of the Attorney General of the Federation
Frontline freight forwarder and chieftain of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr Lucky Eyis Amiwero was yesterday whisked away by gun-wielding operatives of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Amiwero a claimant to the presidency of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents was arrested yesterday afternoon at his office at Apapa by a team of Customs FOU officers based on a petition that was written against him by another claimant to the title, Mr Festus Ejiofor.
Although, there was no official confirmation of the arrest at first, Shipping Position Daily confirmed the petition from the factional president, Ejiofor, who told our correspondent that he wrote the petition to Customs in response to the deluge of enquiries about letters that were allegedly emanating from Mr Amiwero against some agencies of the Federal Government.
An obviously happy Ejiofor told our correspondent that, “the war has just started, because , he (Amiwero) has been using our letterhead paper to write letters to everyone including the Federal Government, he is an impostor”.
He also confirmed Customs wrote to him (Ejiofor) to inquire about the origin of the letters. I have to exonerate myself, I didn’t write nay letter as the national president of the Council’.
However, the public relations officer of the Customs FOU, Mr Uche Ejesieme explained the circumstances that led to Amiwero’s arrest. According to him, it was an invitation for him to come and shed light on some issues bordering on the letter from the Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents. “We only provided the logistics, he is a guest of the Attorney General of the Federation”, he disclosed to our correspondent yesterday.
He confirmed that his arrest was based on a petition, “that was written by the national president of the association”, even as he hinted that the freight forwarder may be charged to court today (Friday).
Sources who witnessed the arrest told our correspondent that Amiwero allegedly resisted arrest when the FOU operatives arrived at his office yesterday afternoon.
One freight forwarder who witnessed the drama told Shipping Position Daily that he allegedly attempted to seize a pistol from one of the officers who came to effect his arrest. “He became violent, he attempted and he actually snatched the gun from one of the officers”, the eyewitness alleged.
Yesterday’s arrest came about two years after he had a similar brush with the Police, he was to spend about one week at the Kirikiri maximum prison after the magistrate at Apapa magistrate court remanded him. He was later granted bail on some conditions that took some days to be met.
In August 2009, two plain cloth policemen had arrived at his residence on a Sunday morning, showed him a warrant of arrest and told him (Amiwero) that he was under arrest.
But, the embattled Amiwero, suspecting the policemen asked them for identification, which the policemen were unable to produce, and immediately a scuffle ensued and ran into his compound and locked the gates.
The policemen, sensing trouble went back to the station, mobilized, and came back with a team of about 30 policemen who broke into Amiwero’s compound, went to his bed room and allegedly beat him, his wife and two other family members.
Amiwero’s latest ordeal may not be unconnected to his recent petition which led to the cancellation of the controversial Customs duty benchmark.
He had told Shipping Position Daily that his petition which was sent both the Presidency and the National Assembly was actually responsible for the cancellation.
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