Arms Importers Plead Guilty, Opt For Plea Bargain

The two accused persons, Oscar Okafor and Donatus Achinulo, indicated their intention to change their plea from not guilty to guilty after changing their lawyers.

They were arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji alongside Mahmud Hassan, Matthew Okoye who is said to be at large and Salihu Danjuma by the Attorney General of the Federation on June 14 this year on an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, importation of prohibited firearms, forgery, uttering of forged documents and bribery.

Although all the accused persons had pleaded not guilty to the charges, Justice Faji refused to grant them bail based on the gravity of the offence leveled against them.

At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, Oscar Okafor and Donatus Achinulo through their new lawyers, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) and Paul Ananaba (SAN) told the judge that they were ready to change their plea.

Following the development, the judge adjourn the case till September 26 after ordering them to notify the AGF of their intention.

According to the charges filed by the federal government, the accused persons imported 661 pump-action rifles into the country from Turkey through the Apapa Port in Lagos, using a 40-feet container, which they falsely claimed contained steel doors.

To facilitate the illegal importation, the accused persons allegedly forged a number of documents, including a bill of lading, a Form M and a Pre-Arrival Assessment Report.

The AGF told the court that in order to evade payment of Customs duty, the accused persons allegedly forged a bill of landing issued at Istanbul on January 9, 2017, falsely claiming that it was issued at Shanghai, China.

In the forged bill of landing, they allegedly filled “steel doors” as the content of the container instead of rifles.

They were also said to have allegedly offered a bribe of N400,000 to an official of the Nigeria Customs Service attached to the Federal Operations Unit to influence the said officer not to conduct a “hundred per cent search on the 40-feet container with number PONU 825914/3”.

The prosecution also alleged that the first accused, Hassan, corruptly gave N1 million to government officials at the Apapa Port in order to prevent the search of the container by Customs officials.

In the last count, the federal government alleged that the defendants had between 2012 and 2016 illegally imported several double barrel shotguns, pump-action rifles and single barrel shotguns into the country through Lagos.

The offences are said to be contrary to sections 1(2)(c), 1(14) (a)(i) and 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2014.

But when they were arraigned on June 14, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Customs Frustrates Implementation Of Executive Order At Seaports

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has indicated that it will deliberately flout the Executive Order of the federal government at the nation’s seaports.

Comptroller -general of the NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), who gave the indication said his men will no longer comply with the executive order signed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the ease of doing business.

In his capacity as acting president, Osinbajo had on May 19, 2017 signed the executive order to facilitate cargo clearance at the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa.

But speaking in Lagos on the seizure of a new set of 470 pump action rifles at the Tin Can Island Port recently, the Ali said Customs would not facilitate trade at the expense of the security of the country.

He said, “70 to 80 per cent of what comes in comes under false declaration and that is why we find it difficult to effectively execute ease of doing business.

“If we fast track and depend on documents, these (rifles) are what we would be unleashing on our people which means we have to subject containers to 100 per cent examination and that delays the honest people’s goods.

“By the look on the importer’s face, we do not know whether he has concealed something or not. So, it is unfortunate that the honest people get to suffer and until Nigerians begin to do the right thing and become honest in the way they do business, it will be difficult for Customs to clear goods within the time frame that is globally accepted. That is the fact.”

Daring the federal government further, the Customs CG said the NCS won’t shy away from performing its duty because it wants to fast track clearance of goods.

Ali continued: “The security of this country is more important to NCS than the money we collect in terms of duty. What is the use of money if there would be no security?

“This critical time, Nigerians have to bear with us because we will be forced to do our job beyond the ease of doing business because we want to safeguard lives and properties.

“When we get to the level of normalcy, we can now bring back ease of doing business and ensure that we conform to the global best practice. But for now, to safeguard our country, we have to go beyond ease of doing business”. Leadership