The officer of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) who rejected $412,000 bribe, Assistant Comptroller General of Customs (ACG) Bashir Abubakar has been sacked for “negligence”, ElombahNews was informed.
It could be recalled that ACG Abubakar in 2018 was well celebrated for rejecting a bribe of $412,000 from unscrupulous Tramadol drug smugglers.
President Muhammadu Buhari had honoured the officer with an award at the Presidential Villa.
President Buhari had presented Integrity awards to Abubakar for exhibiting Integrity in the performance of his official duty.
However, in a latest turn of events, Abubakar got disgraced out of the Customs, a source revealed to ElombahNews.
According to the source, Abubakar was accused of leading a raid on the warehouse of a suspected imported rice smuggler in Daura, the home town of President Buhari in Katsina State.
Reacting to his sack, Customs said he was dismissed for acts of negligence.
It added that the disciplinary actions against him was in-line with the reform agenda being carried out in the Service.
In another development, a Customs officer reportedly shot an executive member of the proscribed National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Lateef Aboki, in the chest on Friday at Iseyin-Moniya park in Iseyin, Iseyin Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The officer (name withheld), among three others in mufti in a private Lexus Jeep, allegedly chased a commercial vehicle into the park.
The vehicle was suspected that it carried a bag of rice and in the process shot the motorist.
The head of the park, Mr Lateef Shittu, a.k.a Akue, said he got a call that one of his executive members was shot by a customs officer at the park and immediately contacted the Divisional Police Officer in Iseyin.
He stated that the DPO arrived at the scene immediately to put the situation under control before it degenerated into chaos.
The men of the Nigerian Customs were said to have fled the scene following the incident.
The victim was reported to be responding to treatment at a hospital in the town.