Customs officers shatter woman’s leg

By Modey Peters

February 5, 2011 10:41PM

A housewife, Umo Edem who was travelling with her husband, Emmanuel Edem, to see her sick mother is now lying in the hospital with her leg strapped in plaster of Paris as a result of bullet wounds from the guns of men of the Nigerian Customs Service.

Mr Edem, who works in the Calabar office of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs narrated his story thus: “I was driving towards Okoyong when somewhere on a sharp bend, I suddenly came upon a Customs check point and one of the officers flagged me to stop, but in front of me was a truck and behind was an Akwa Ibom Transport Company (AKTC) bus on top speed so I could not stop abruptly because the AKTC bus would have rammed into my car from behind, so I had to indicate with my traffic light that I was about to stop on the left”, he said.

He added that the officers did not wait for him to park for them to carry out their search, instead, they opened fire on his vehicle. “The bullets went through my car condenser, ripped through the right leg of my trousers and eventually shattered my wife’s left leg lodging several bullets and pellets from the condenser”, he revealed.

Mr Edem claimed that the customs officers led by an assistant superintendent whose name was given as Shuaibu and another officer, Okoronkwo Afam, “did not show any remorse at first, even with my wife’s leg bleeding profusely, they asked me to write a statement and take my wife away but my car was gushing water and smoke and could not move so they took us in their vehicle to Calabar”.

The helpless man explained that the initial plan was to take the woman to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) since the General Hospitals were on strike “but the bleeding became too much and my wife was getting weak and unconscious , I had to ask them to stop at Emmanuel Infirmary which is at the entrance to the city”.

Not aware

He said the officers gave N15, 000 out of the N30, 000 demanded by the doctor and had to make up the balance the following day. “That was all we heard from them and I have since then spent over N150,000 on drugs, hospital bills, feeding and other sundry needs of my wife”, he added.

His wife said she is worried about her aged mother who is still ill at Okoyong. “We were actually going to Okoyong to get drugs for my aged mother who is lying there sick. Now the money that was supposed to be used in buying drugs for her is being spent on my treatment, tell me what will happen to her,” she asked rhetorically.

The shooting incident, she said has affected her business as she can no longer run around. “Can you imagine me starting 2011 this way, my business is now suffering and I don’t know when I will leave this place and if I will be able to walk with my two legs again’’, she said amidst sobs.

The public Relations Officer of the zonal headquarter of the Nigerian Customs Service in Calabar, Mr Tele T. D said he is not aware of any shooting involving men of the command.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5673092-146/customs_officers_shatter_womans_leg_.csp

I think the level of illiteracy in Nigerian paramilitary and police force is world-class.

We dey chop serious shyt in this country!!!.

Armed Robber
Police
MOPOL
Army
Navy
and now Customs

All dey kill civilian with bullet, yet we siddon dey look. Are we waiting for Air Force and Prisons Service to start their own before we shout!?

With that response from the commander, I think they want it to go the nigerian navy way the huge compensation will be awarded to the victims by the court. Why not do it amicably by accepting the wrong and querying the officer that commited the act?

where is tensor 777, that notorious defender of the antics of our killer men sonsabitches in uniform

^^^ No mind that yeye fool.

This is what I call Ibo on Ibo crime, no wahala!