*Alleges operatives carted away 704 bags of rice
By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Chairman of Mount Olives Ilorin, a multi national group of companies, Mr. Julius Adebola, has decried the recent raid carried out on his warehouse by some operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service, saying it is unlawful and illegal.
He said during the raid, 704 bags of 50 kg each of par boiled rice, valued at millions of naira were carted away.
The raid, according to THiSDAY checks, happened last Sunday at about 2am and was said to have been carried out in a commando style in conjuction with some men of the 32 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army Sobi, Ilorin.
It was learnt that, the affected security agencies allegedly invaded the premises and forced open the gate leading into the depot to gain access.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Thursday over the development, Mr. Adebola said that, “the combined armed personnel of the Customs and the soldiers, numbering over 50 came into the warehouse in six Hilux vans and a truck to cart away the goods, I mean 704 bags of rice.”
Besides, he said the military and para military personnel, allegedly conscripted his security men on duty and many other innocent layabouts to load the bags into the truck they drove into the warehouse and took same to the office of the Customs in Ilorin.
The entrepreneur who alleged the his Manager, Mr ThankGod Ugwuegbu, and two other unnamed staff of his company who had simply urged the officers to take proper inventory of the goods being taken away, were locked up for over 12 hours “without food or water”, urged the newly appointed Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, to urgently step into the matter to protect the nation’s investors.
Adebola, who swore “never to be an investor in foreign rice” and would never engage in any shady deal of repackaging foreign rice, as alleged by the Armed personnel, urged a full scale investigation into the matter to clear his name and those of over 500 workers in his employment.
“This is my father’s land and as a trained pharmacist I had to retire from civil service job to become an investor some years back. I want a thorough investigation into the matter because, a similar one was done against me in Ibadan, Oyo state capital where I lost over N200million some years ago.
“Again, as I speak with you, I am not sure of the safety of where the bags of rice will be inside the Customs warehouse where they claimed they had taken them to. I am not a fraudster but a legal Nigerian investor”, he added.
The investor, while canvassing more conducive environment for genuine indigenous investors in Nigeria, advised Aregbesola on the need to caution security operatives against alleged breaches of the constitutional rights of Nigerians, noting, “this is supposed to be a civilian rule and not a draconian regime.”
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Customs Services in Ilorin, Mrs Susan S. Okpo, confirmed the development noting that investigation into the matter was ongoing.
