The House of Representatives on Tuesday accused the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of negligence in the alleged killing of five persons by officers of the service in Iseyin, Oyo State.
The House made the accusation during an investigative hearing on the killings at the lower legislative chamber.
Iseyin is a community located about 200 kilometres from the Nigeria-Benin Republic border.
Some Customs personnel had on May 13
allegedly killed five persons while chasing some suspected rice smugglers in the community.
Representative of the families of the victims, Tijani Rasaki, said the incident was not the first time such had happened in the community, adding that the people were fed up with the excesses from the Customs operatives.
He said the victims were not smugglers but indigenes of Iseyin who were going about their lawful duties. He demanded compensation for the families of the victims.
The legal representative of Customs, Umar Lawal, said a mob from the area attacked the officers who tried to arrest the suspected rice smugglers.
He said the mob blocked the officers, who fired shots into the air to disperse them before taking the seized items to their base in Iseyin.
He further said the mob regrouped in larger numbers and attacked their base with cutlasses, sticks, stones and sundry weapons and two customs officers were seriously injured.
He stressed that with the situation getting out of hand, the NCS leader called for the intervention of the Nigerian Army, who came in to restore sanity in the area.
Lawal, who said the Customs personnel were empowered by law to kill if attacked with weapons, denied that the officers killed anyone that day.
However, members of the committee frowned on Customs denial of the killings, adding that the agency was negligent and made the Iseyin people bear the brunt of their actions.
He wondered if it could have been the Army that was responsible for the killing as the Customs had denied responsibility.
The lawmakers accused the agency of twisting words.
They said they had sent emissaries to beg the families of the deceased.
A member of the committee, Jerry Alagbaoso, for the adjournment of the hearing to enable officers directly involved with the incident to appear before them.
