Customs Service dismisses allegation of its officer being a ‘bandit’ in viral video

The Nigeria Customs Service on Sunday reacted to a viral video showing one of its officers as a bandit who was promoted to a Deputy Superintendent of Customs (DSC), saying that the video was cloned out of mischief.

In a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Joseph Attah on Sunday urged the public to discountenance the said video, adding that unpatriotic elements were at work to damn the name of the country.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Nigeria Customs Service has been drawn to a ridiculous video making rounds on social media platforms, comparing a newly promoted Deputy Superintendent of Customs and a bandit with insinuation that the Customs Officer is the bandit that was recruited into the Service.

“When this Officer in a nervous excitement could not get his acts together during decoration, resulting in various public commentaries, little did we imagine that mischief makers would descend so low as to fabricate this evil.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Officer in question was recruited through a rigorous process and trained in 2011 and has just grown to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Customs, (3 stars ).

“It is therefore very unfortunate that those who are bent on presenting the country in bad light could take a simple human error during decoration to ridicule his person and attempting to extend same to the Service and the nation.

“This is obviously the hand work of unpatriotic elements that should be ignored.

“A good look at the pictures will clearly show that the Customs Officer is not the pictured bandit.

“NCS therefore urges all well meaning Nigerians to ignore the ridiculous comparison and treat it as the work of those who do not wish the nation well.”