You will recall that on Tuesday, 21st July,2020 the board of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) decided on the fate of Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Abubakar over charges of negligence against him.

Reliable source gathered that the Customs’ standing committee on appointment, promotion & disciplinary affairs headed by Abubakar Kari adopted all the recommendations of the adhoc panel headed by deputy comptroller-General, Chidi Augustine without giving the accused, ACG Abubakar right to fair hearing or self-defence during panel inquest into the allegations levelled against him.

That the board, headed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed consider the findings and recommendations of the standing committee and decide on the appropriate punishment for the ACG.

A top official in the service said that “the move is a ploy by some powerful forces within and outside the service to get rid of ACG Abubakar at all cost for fear that his rising profile could merit him the position of the next Comptroller-general of Customs, following the ongoing amendment of the Customs Act to allow for CGs to emerge from within the service, instead the current practice where CGs are picked from outside the service”.

ACG Abubakar who is in charge of border patrol in the North was framed-up with some flimsy allegations now described as “negligence” in the course of duty. He is actually being accused of stepping on toes of some highly placed individuals despite earlier warning to allow the free movement and storage of some contraband items within his area of monitoring. He denied any wrong doing, saying he never got any signal or calls to stop the planned seizure. The items were not eventually seized.

"He is being accused of negligence but the real reason is for an operation that is supposed to have embarrassed some highly placed individual in the corridors of power. The said operation exposed the storage and sale of contraband foreign rice by a business man said to enjoy patronage by powerful individuals,” the source who pleaded anonymity said.

One of the committee members told that a query was issued to the ACG in March this year when he was on sick leave. “He responded to the query and also submitted his call logs from MTN to show he did not receive any call or message from his superiors to stop the operations. There was also no written instruction from headquarters or his superiors directing him or his team on the operation”.

“He told that ACG Abubakar was not given any instruction – written or verbal to stop the operation. Rather than commend the unit for a good job of exposing the warehouse with contraband, he was accused of negligence,” a senior staff of the agency stated.

"The general view in the service is that those in control of the service are not happy with ACG Abubakar who has a rising profile of integrity, hard work and unflinching commitment for his job”.

Recall that last year, President Muhammadu Buhari gave ACG Abubakar integrity award for turning down $412,000 (N150 million) bribe from drug traffickers to import 40 containers laden with Tramadol, a regulated and highly addictive drug.

The incident took place when he was the Comptroller of Apapa area command in Lagos. He was also promoted. Consequently, the Col. Hameed Ali-led Customs Service promoted Abubakar to the rank of Assistant Controller-general.

Finally, ACG Bashir Abubakar got compulsory retirement for act of negligence.