Customs, Soldiers Attack Residents Over Video Recording

Two residents, Rafiu Abdelmalik and Taofeek Olatunbosun, have accused men of the Nigerian Customs Service and soldiers at a checkpoint along the Badagry-Seme Expressway of brutality on Sunday, December 1, 2024, after they were caught recording a video.

The officers suspected the victims of being informants supplying journalists with information about smuggling activities on the road. Olatunbosun and Abdelmalik, both transporters, were attempting to update their customers about their location when they were accosted.

In an interview with Vanguard, Olatunbosun explained, “We were on our way to Apa when we stopped at a fuel station to refuel. My customer kept asking for my exact location, so I asked my assistant to record a video of our surroundings to send to him. Suddenly, someone approached my assistant and tried to grab his phone. This attracted the attention of security operatives at the checkpoint. They accused us of recording videos for journalists exposing smuggling activities.”

The officers took them to a nearby location, where they contacted their team leader, Officer Adamu Zakari, a soldier. “When he arrived, he recognized me and mentioned knowing my brother, threatening to kill him the next time he saw him. Despite recognizing me, he still didn’t believe our story. He then asked why the officers hadn’t killed us and dumped our bodies in the water,” Olatunbosun recounted. That was when the brutal beating began.

Rafiu Abdelmalik, the second victim, added, “I was just following my boss’s instructions. One of the smugglers working with the security operatives slapped me and tried to seize my phone. They dragged us to a secluded area near the checkpoint, where the officers tortured us, demanding we reveal which journalists we were planning to send the video to.”

The victims were eventually rescued by residents who witnessed the severity of the beating and alerted the police. “If the residents hadn’t called the police, they would have killed us,” Abdelmalik said. It was later discovered that the same officers had previously warned journalists in Badagry not to report on smuggling activities.

This incident follows an investigative report by journalist Fisayo Soyombo, which exposed the alleged involvement of the Nigerian Customs Service in smuggling operations along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. Soyombo’s video showed Customs patrol vans at checkpoints allowing smugglers to pass freely, with goods such as rice, chicken, and turkey being transported, and suspicions of illicit drugs or weapons being smuggled as well.

When contacted by Vanguard, Abdullahi Hossein, Public Relations Officer for the Seme Border Customs, stated, “The officers involved will be withdrawn from the checkpoint immediately. What they did does not reflect the values of our organization, and we take full responsibility for their actions.”

Regarding the military personnel’s involvement, Hossein added, “Due to the volatile nature of some patrols, we have military personnel attached to us. I’m not sure if military officers were involved in this incident, but we take responsibility and urge the victims to reach out to us.”