The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has dismissed rumours that it circulated seized poisoned rice, which has allegedly turned out to be killing its consumers including a military officer.
Findings revealed however that the report was spurious and authored in vengeance to mislead the stakeholders and the general public.
In a signed statement through the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Isah Sulaiman on Sunday, it stated that “The attention of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme Area Command, has been drawn to a widely circulated unfounded and baseless allegation claiming that the Command seized and distributed bags of rice without the knowledge of the purported owner, who then allegedly invoked traditional powers leading to the death of individuals, including a soldier at Badagry.
“The Command wishes to categorically state that this narrative is entirely false, misleading, and does not reflect the reality of the matter. The Command has always adhered to NCS Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for disposing of seized goods which is guided by transparency, due process, and strict adherence to extant laws and guidelines.
“It is instructive to say that no incident within the Command’s Area of Responsibility (AoR) or among personnel corroborates the false claims of deaths resulting from rice consumption linked to the NCS. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous elements wearing the garment of journalism (a credible profession) to misinform members of the public with baseless, fictitious and malicious accusations to score cheap points instead of the social responsibility they are supposed to uphold.
“Consequently, we urge the general public to disregard this unfounded story and refrain from spreading false information that could incite fear or tarnish the image of the security agencies working tirelessly to safeguard the nation.
“The Seme Area Command, under the leadership of Comptroller Ben Oramalugo, PhD, remains committed to its mandate of revenue generation, suppressing smuggling, and facilitating legitimate trade professionally and responsibly in accordance with extant government fiscal policies and laws.” The statement noted.
Nonetheless, MMS Plus findings revealed that the report was authored out of mischief to create confusion and smear the image of the Service in a quest for vengeance.
There is no correlation between the unfounded alleged multiple deaths associated with cholera outbreak in Seme –Badagry and the alleged dead body shown in the viral video shown not to be a military man.
While the online report alleged that killer rice was released to the market, there was no statement of fact to buttress that a grain of rice was released let alone a caused rice seized from a disgruntled smuggler, suggesting that the writer may have been sponsored by smugglers.
The online platform bearing the story, checks further revealed lacks basic elements of trust as it failed integrity test following absence of location and credible means of contact.
