Protest in Ogun over seizure of rice by Customs

Rice sellers in Sango-Ota market in Ado Odo/Ota local government area of Ogun state on Wednesday blocked the Ota-end of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway for over 12 hours over what they called invasion of their shops by the men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit, Ikeja.

The men of the NCS were said to have damaged the padlocks and doors leading to over 60 shops located inside Sango-Ota motor park, and carted away 18,000 bags of rice and jerrycans of vegetable oil.

The Customs operatives were said to have invaded the market around 1am with about 15 trucks and carted away the bags of rice and jerrycans of vegetable oil.

The operation, according to an eye witness, lasted for about one hour.
An eye witness told our correspondent that some of the security men wore hoods, to conceal their identities.
This action led to a mass protest by some angry youths and rice sellers who barricaded both sides of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway shortly before the overhead bridge at Ota with disused tyres and planks, and disrupted vehicular movement.

Motorists were not allowed to move into or outside Sango-Ota, from Lagos-end, Abeokuta-end, and Iju-Winners-Oju Ore end.
Motorists were forced to make use of other alternative routes via Tollgate and JoJu area.
Efforts by the policemen from the Sango-Ota division of the state police command to disperse the protesters did not yield any positive result.

The leader of the rice sellers in the market, Alhaja W. Salako, alleged that the men of Customs, Federal Operations Unit, Ikeja, who broke into their shops carted away 18,000 bags of rice worth N378m.

She said many of them took loans to buy these goods and had run into debts with the seizure.

Speaking in Yoruba, Alhaja Salako said: “Around 1am on Wednesday, some operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service in company with some men from the ‘Operation Mesa’ invaded over 60 shops where we sold bags of rice and vegetable oil.

“They carted away no fewer than 18,000 bags of rice and jerrycans of vegetable oil worth N378m.

“They broke into these shops by destroying the padlocks, the burglary proofs and steel doors, before removing the bags of rice and vegetable oil. Some of our members who kept money inside lockers in their shops had the money stolen by the ‘invaders’.”

Salako appealed to the Comptroller- General of the Customs, Col. Hammed Ali (retd), to intervene in their case and ensure that their goods were returned to them because they bought the goods in the market and they were not involved in smuggling.

“We bought these goods with our money. I believe if they have issues, it should be at the border and not coming inside the market to cart away our goods.”

The Ado Odo/Ota local government area chairman, Prince Oladele Adeniji, who also visited the scene, told our correspondent that he was told that operatives of the NCS came to the market inside the Sango-Ota motor park and took away bags of rice and jerrycans of vegetable oils.

He said he had contacted the state Controller of NCS, and the state police commissioner over the matter. Adeniji said he had also contacted the state government.

He said, “I have appealed to the rice sellers to remain calm and that the matter will bé resolved.
However, the NCS had punctured some of the figures being bandied by the traders.

They also said their operatives did not break into anyone’s shop in the market but only went into a warehouse in the market where those contraband goods were kept, saying they only took away 1,870 bags of rice and not 18,000 bags.

When contacted the Public Relations Officer, NCS, Ogun Area Command, Usman Abubakar, said those who went to raid the Sango-Ota rice market were from the Federal Operation Unit, Lagos.

Meanwhile, as at 3.30pm when this story was filed, the protesting market women were yet to vacate the highway.
They said they were waiting for the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to visit the scene and address them.