What type of equipment were bought by the Comptroller-General (CG) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko, for internet service that cost the Service N3.5 billion? Who got the contract?
What happened to 13 containers with expensive goods which disappeared at Tin Can Port, Lagos recently? Who is shielding the officers responsible for the missing containers?
Who was responsible for selective promotions and postings to some juicy stations such as Lagos and Port Harcourt, an action which is already causing disaffection among officers?
Why are some officers from a particular section of the country and with a particular religious belief favoured above others?
Who inflated the contracts for the purchase of some BMW vehicles to senior officers?
Who is also responsible for the false declaration of Annual Customs Revenue Generation?
Who converted the Katsina Customs Service landed property containing six houses to personal use?
These are some of the questions officials of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) will ask the Customs CG when he appears before them in Abuja.
Already, there is panic among senior officers close to Dikko as it is generally believed that some of them may be sacrificed to save Dikko or if Dikko goes, they will also go with him.
A source at the ICPC office told Freedom Online: “We have started investigation since we got the petition against the Customs boss last Wednesday. Because of the anti-corruption posture of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, our work will be swift. In as much as we don’t want to be seen to be targetting anybody, nobody is above the law. We are doing a thorough job and he (Dikko) will be invited soon to shed light on what really happened”.
The petition against Dikko was sent by the Nigerian Customs Transparency Initiative (NCTI) and signed by Dr. James Onoja.
Onoja also accused former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) and former Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Ita Ekpenyong of shielding Dikko while they were in office because several petitions sent to them indicting the Customs CG were ignored.
To the group, if Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade must work, Dikko must face the law for abuse of office.
The ICPC confirmed the receipt of the petition from the group on July 29.
Dikko was also accused of contravening the Public Service Rule 070318.
The petition reads: “The Customs Board was kept in the dark as promotions were manipulated and Customs officials selectively elevated. Bootlickers, favourites and stooges were elevated to juicy and sumptuous positions and postings to Lagos and Port-Harcourt ports.
“Meritocracy was slaughtered on the altar of mediocrity. There is also reckless abuse of office with unmitigated religious and ethnic bias. On the purchase of vehicles, prices of BMW vehicles for senior officers were criminally inflated.
About N3.5 billion naira was siphoned and frittered away into his pocket through an internet project that never saw daylight.
“Thirteen containers at T.C.I.P. were impounded sometime ago. It was claimed that four Iranians were arrested with the containers two of which disappeared into the thin air.
“There is false declaration of Annual Customs Revenue Generation. In order to give false impression of excellent performance, the Customs Service adds figure of the Value Added Tax (VAT) which Customs collects on behalf of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the revenue derived from custom duties whereas the same VAT figure has been included in the VAT revenue declared and announced by FIRS as required by law, thereby creating a misleading duplication of revenue figure derived from VAT.
Below is the full petition by Onoja:
PETITION AGAINST ALHAJI ABDULLAHI INDE DIKKO, THE COMPTOLLER GENERAL OF NIGERIA CUSTOMS SERVICES
Several letters of petition against the Comptroller –General of Customs, Inde Dikko Abdullahi, were sent to the erstwhile President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the former Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, the former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in writing and through the media.
Other notable people copied to date were the former Attroney-General of the Federation, Mr Adoke Bello and former Director-General of State Security Service (SSS), Ita Ekpeyong.
The content of the said letter of petition included allegations of fraudulent acts, high handedness and abuse of office to name a few, but the letters were ignored because the aforementioned names benefitted from the C-G of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko’s corrupt enrichment.
ISSUES AT STAKE
Award of Contract: The contract for the construction of Customs Staff College was aided and abetted by a Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, who was not a member of the Nigeria Customs Board. The company used for the contract was registered three weeks after the award of the contract. Also, the estate named Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Customs Barracks at Kuje, was purchased at the inflated rate of four billion naira and renovated with ten billion naira.
False Declaration of Annual Customs Revenue Generation: Yearly, in order to give false impression of excellent performance, the Customs Service adds figure of the Value Added Tax (VAT) which Customs collects on behalf of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the revenue derived from custom duties whereas the same VAT figure has been included in the VAT revenue declared and announced by FIRS as required by law, thereby creating a misleading duplication of revenue figure derived from VAT.
Conversion of Katsina Customs Service landed property to his own personal use: He fraudulently acquired Nigeria Customs Service landed property in Katsina containing six houses which he demolished to build his own palatial edifice which is bigger than the state’s Government House.
Killing of All Textile Industries: Textile Industries in Nigeria folded up as a result of his clandestine pact with Alhaji Dahiru Manga who tops the list of smugglers of textile materials. The C-G tried to paint himself in good light to the incumbent president by his recent Kangaroo raiding of ware houses containing contra bands textiles that he had aided in bringing into the country before the incumbent president by his recent kangaroo raiding of ware houses containing contra bands textiles that he had aided in bringing into the country before the incumbent president came into office.
Under Welfare (Insurance Fund): The C-G Abdullahi Dikko colluded with an insurance mogul in the person of Chief Emeka Offor to defraud Nigeria Customs Service of 7.4 billion naira yearly from 2012 till date while relatives of deceased officers are left unattended to as nothing was paid to them as Insurance benefit since the death of the deceased officers.
Change in government forced and prompted the C.G to publish names of companies owing customs duties to the tune of 24 billion naira. As a matter of fact, the C-G Abdullahi Dikko has collected one- third of the said money into his private pocket thereby defrauding the Government of Nigeria.
The C-G Abdullahi Dikko colluded with Coscharis Motors to import bullet proof cars which are armoured cars. The armoured cars were meant for motor rally, a game floated and founded by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Tinubu’s cars were taken to his home in Lagos by the Chief Mechanical Driver to the Nigeria Customs Service, Asst. Compt. Raji, now retired.
Certificate Scandal: The case of Certificate Scandal levied against the C-G was referred to the Criminal Investigating Dept. at Alagbon, Lagos State. But instead of the police to do thorough investigation on the allegation, they turned the other eye and focused on the person that reported the case. The radical lawyer Festus Keyamo is a living witness to the matter.
The extant Circular No. 58358/S.5/C.1/32 of 6th April, 1998 from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, banning public servants from accepting honorary degree awards, fellowships etc from institutions of higher learning was flouted by the C-G Abdullahi Dikko with impunity. He purchased one honorary doctorate degree from an unapproved University of Belize in United Arab Emirate and another honorary doctorate degree at a huge cost from Igbinedion University, Okada in December, 2012.
Also, in contravention of the Circular No. HCSF/062/S.I/VI/7 of 20 June, 2013, from the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation banning civil servants from accepting Chieftaincy titles, he accepted a chieftaincy title from Obong of Calabar in 2013.
Copies of the quoted circulars are attached herewith for your perusal and further investigation.
It is my fervent hope that this petition will be given the attention it deserves in the interest of sanity and discipline in public office, posterity and the positive change which we crave for in governance.
