National Assembly to arrest customs boss Hameed Ali

The National Assembly wants Customs boss to come before it to answer questions about N250m insurance fraud allegedly committed by the Customs Service. The House of Representatives Ad hoc committee on insurance said the customs boss “will be carried to the National Assembly” if need be. Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali The House of Representatives Ad hoc committee on insurance has threatened to have Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Col. Hameed Ali (retd.) arrested, Punch reports. The Reps committee, chaired by All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Ogun State Adekunle Akinlade, said Ali has until Wednesday, November 9 to appear before it or an arrest warrant would be issued his arrest over an alleged N250m insurance fraud committed by the NCS between 2013 and 2015. The committee had turned down the appearance of the Deputy Comptroller-General (Human Resources Development) Austin Warikoru; DCG, (Welfare), Umoru Dinatu; and DCG Rufai Alawo whom Ali sent to represent him. “By the rules of proceedings of the House, the committee will not entertain appearances other than that of the heads of the agencies. “The committee will not accept the submissions of officers who will tell you they cannot answer certain questions or that they will first report to a higher authority,” the panel stated. The records of proceedings acquired by Punch quoted Akinlade as saying, “Let it be on record that we wrote Customs CG; we published adverts in newspapers and also made physical visits to submit letters to Customs. “Until the CG creates time, after he is done with the other national assignments he considers to be more important than a parliamentary proceeding, we will hold the agency accountable. “We have powers to make sure that he (Ali) appears, even if it means that he will be carried to the National Assembly, he must appear.” Meanwhile, there was pandemonium recently at the Oshodi area of Lagos state on Thursday, November 3, when soldiers clashed some Nigerian military soldiers. The incident which occurred at the Nigerian Army Shopping Arena in Bolade when some customs officers tried to cease six containers in the area.