“Officer Who Shot Me Told My Wife, Your Husband Is Dead, Come And Pick His Corpse At Ikeja”— Clearing Agent
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has explained that the officer who shot Adeyemi Quadri, a clearing agent at the Mile 2 axis on the Apapa-Oshodi expressway while driving a Toyota Rav 4 2019 model, that was cleared at the Tin Can port cannot be prosecuted, until after investigation into the matter has been completed.
Speaking with our correspondent on the circumstances that led to the clearing agent being shot, the Public Relations Officer of the NCS, FOU Zone ‘A’; Mr Peter Duniya, stated that the officer who shot the agent can only be prosecuted after investigations have been completed.
He however insisted that the officer who shot the clearing agent did so in self-defence. “The matter is still under investigation; the outcome of the investigation will determine the next step”, he stated.
When asked if the Customs Act allows an officer to shoot an unarmed civilian, he averred that the Customs Act does not allow that, but stated that what the officer did was an act of self-defence.
“The Customs Act does not permit that, but the circumstances that led to the shooting, this is an officer that is armed and was out to do his lawful duty, and there was an issue where someone tried to disarm him, so I don’t know if it would have been better for the officer to be disarmed and the arm used against him or the same riffle used against other Nigerians, what the officer did was an act of self-defence”, he insisted.
Meanwhile, while narrating his ordeal, the victim; Adeyemi Quadri also known as Wale Balogun confirmed to our correspondent that the officer who shot him threatened to give him water so that he can quickly die on time and join his ancestors, while also threatening to blow up the second leg if he refused to tell him how to start the Toyota Rav 4 2019 model.
Giving his own side of the story he said: “I was coming from Tin Can port with Toyota RAV4 2019 model when the roving FOU team stopped me at Berger Yard. One of the officers approached me and asked me to wind down the window of the car.
When I wound down, he asked for the document of the car which I gave to him. Thereafter, without any provocation, he brought out a jackknife and wanted to stab me, but I dodged.
“He then used the barrel of his gun to hit me and shouted “get down, I say you should get down, give me the key”.
“I opened the door and as I was stepping down from the car, he shot me in the leg and I fell down.
“While groaning on the ground, I said” Oga, you shot me” and he answered “yes, I wanted to kill you”
“As I was trying to crawl away from him, my boss called me to inquire about my whereabouts but while still in pain, I managed to tell him that a FOU officer has shot me.
“When the officer heard that I was receiving a call, he snatched the phone from me and put it in his pocket.
“I was left in the pool of my blood with other officers who are the colleagues of the one who shot me watching me groaning in pain. He even said he would put me inside their van and give me water so I could die.
“It was at this point the people who have already gathered at the scene tried to rescue and help me.
”I was trying to crawl away from them when he picked me up and threw me inside the nearby gutter.
”It was at that point a police patrol team was passing, saw what was happening, and stopped to make inquiries.
“When they heard what happened, they decided to carry me away from the scene to help me.
”But the officer who shot me was trying to stop them, telling them he wanted to take me away. But those ones prevailed on him and appealed to him, saying.” let him go, let him go”.
At that point, I managed to crawl to the other side of the road and took a bike to the hospital.
”Before I was allowed to go, the officer who shot me barked at me that I should tell him how to start the car or else he would shoot me on my second leg. I had to tell him to step on the brake before he could start the engine.
”All this while, I was in serious pain and losing a lot of blood.
Before I managed to crawl away from them and thereafter, my wife called me. This time, he collected my phone, so he picked the call and told my wife” Your husband is dead, come and pick his corpse at Ikeja”. he said.
