Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), humiliated Senators at Wuse Zone 3, Customs Headquarters in Abuja during the visit of the Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West)-led Senate Ad- hoc Committee on Economic Waste in the Nigeria Customs Service to the NCS office.
The bitter war between the Senators and the Customs boss started when Senator Melaye said: “Before reading the prepared speech of the committee, let me make this small remarks on what we have just observed here in form of breach of protocols.”
“Mr C-G, rather than meeting us here at the conference room by way of courtesy, you were supposed to have met us at the ground floor on arrival into the premises.”
“That had been the practice of statutory bodies headed by chief executive officers like you. Relevant Senate committees have over the years been accorded this by bosses of Immigration Service, Prison Service etc, making us to wonder why it is not so here today under your leadership.”
“Therefore, before proceeding further, on account of this observation, we want the Customs management to know that the presence of this committee before it implies that the Senate itself is before it to put things in order as regards the economic waste taking place in the Customs Service, requiring the seriousness it deserves from you and the entire management. If this thing happens next time, we will take a walk out.”
Col. Ali fired back… “We have our own protocol as regards receiving visitors like you. I don’t need to come downstairs to receive you just as nobody in the Senate or House of Representatives has ever come out to receive us anytime we visit the National Assembly.”
“So, there is no breach of protocol for not coming down to welcome you since appropriate officers have been assigned to do so. Our protocol is our protocol and should be allowed to be.”
“In fact, by way of etiquette, it is the committee that is supposed to come to my office first on arrival and not just coming straight to the conference room. Let me state clearly that we in the Nigeria Customs Service are servants of the people. We believe in Nigeria and working with others to make it great without being railroaded in anyway”
“Personally, I took this job because of my commitment to serve this country selflessly, having earlier done so in the military. So, nobody can tell me that am not a committed Nigerian. On your assignment you called economic waste, we shall cooperate with you to unearth whatever you want to unearth and effect any correction if there is any.’’
The Customs boss shunned group photograph, walks out on the senators.The Customs boss further got the senators humiliated by using his convoy to block them from leaving the place before him.
While the Customs C-G left the Customs Headquarters at about 2:15pm with his siren-blaring convoy, humiliated members of the Senate committee left at about 2:20pm after being held up in their bus for about 15 minutes by the Customs C-G’s convoy stationed at the exit gate immediately after the unpalatable encounter at the conference room.
Senators who suffered the humiliation along with Senator Melaye were Samuel Anyanwu (PDP Imo East); Gilbert Nnaji (PDP, Enugu East); Hamman Isah Misau (APC Bauchi Central) and Babajide Omoworare (APC, Osun East).