2027 ELECTIONS: NO ESCAPE FOR ARMS SMUGGLERS—CG ADENIYI

2027 ELECTIONS: NO ESCAPE FOR ARMS SMUGGLERS—CG ADENIYI

The Comptroller General of the Customs, Wale Adeniyi, MFR, PhD has said that 399 fully assembled JOJEF pump action rifles were the total seizure the recent arms haul at the Tin Can Island port.

He said they were 535 assorted component parts, among them 89 frames, 80 charging handles, 57 trigger groups and 25 locking lugs. ‘Every item counted, every item documented, nothing left in doubt’ he noted.

 

Now consider what that quantity of weapons would have done. Our country is contending with terrorism. With banditry. With kidnapping. With violent crime that has entered too many homes in this country. And not one of those afflictions can be carried out without a weapon in somebody’s hand. Weapons like these are not made in Nigeria. They are made elsewhere, and they reach us through the ports, the borders and the airports that this Service is charged with guarding. We are also approaching another electioneering season, and I do not need to describe to this audience what several hundred firearms in the wrong hands would mean for the peace of our communities or for the conduct of our democracy. I will say only this: that consignment did not reach its destination, and the officers of this Service are the reason.

Let me tell you how they came to be on these tables. On the 8th of July, a container arrived at Tin Can Island Port aboard the vessel MV VELIKA. It was not opened because somebody had a suspicion, or because an officer happened to be passing. It was opened because our risk management system flagged it. I ask you to hold on to that distinction, because I will come back to it before I finish. Inside were firearm components, taken apart and hidden in knocked-down form. That is a deliberate method. It is chosen for one reason only, which is that a rifle in pieces does not look like a rifle.

 

When we met the press on the 6th of August, we told you the interception had been made, but that the examination and coupling were still going on. That work is now finished, and this is the result. Three hundred and ninety-nine fully assembled JOJEF pump-action rifles. Five hundred and thirty-five assorted component parts, among them 89 frames, 80 charging handles, 57 trigger groups and 25 locking lugs. Every item counted. Every item documented. Nothing left in doubt.

 

Let me now return to the point I asked you to hold. That container was found because of a system, and that system exists because this administration chose to invest in it. Under the Trade Modernisation Project we have replaced manual processes with B’Odogwu, which brings clearance, automated risk management, cargo tracking and non-intrusive inspection onto a single platform. The purpose of that investment was never revenue alone. We cannot open every container that enters this country, and no customs administration anywhere in the world can. What technology gives us is the ability to know which container to open. What you are looking at this morning is that capability doing precisely what it was built to do.

But a seizure by itself proves very little, and I want to be careful about that. So let me tell you what has happened since. Two suspects are now in custody. One of them was arrested on the 31st of July at a bonded terminal, while he was attempting to procure the release of this very container. Both have been remanded by the Federal High Court in Lagos, and arraignment is set for the 25th of August. And today the weapons themselves pass into the custody of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, under the Office of the National Security Adviser. Hear that sequence in full, because it is the whole point of this gathering. The weapons were intercepted. The importers were arrested. They stand before a court of law. And the arms are being surrendered to the national authority responsible for them. That is not an incident. That is a chain, and every link in it held.

 

I am aware, as you all are, that there is a great deal of commentary at present, at home and abroad, about violence in Nigeria and about what our institutions are or are not doing in the face of it. I do not intend to enter that argument this morning. I would say only that institutions are judged by their conduct, and that conduct is a matter of record. What stands on the record today is three hundred and ninety-nine rifles that will never be fired in this country, two men before a court, and a handover taking place in the open, before the press, with nothing withheld. We are content to be judged on that.

 

So let there be no doubt about where this Service stands. We will not allow the ports and borders of this country to be used to bring in arms, or anything else that threatens the safety of Nigerians. Our officers will stay vigilant. We will sharpen our intelligence. We will strengthen our risk systems. And we will work shoulder to shoulder with our sister agencies to find the people who attempt this and to stop them. And I say one thing to our own personnel, as plainly as I say it to anyone outside this Service: the officer who lends himself to this trade, or who uses his position to ease the passage of such goods, will find no shelter with us.

Let me now turn to those who made this morning possible. To the officers and men of the Tin Can Island Port Command, I say well done. Whoever packed this consignment took great care to hide it. It was found anyway, because our systems worked and because our officers did their duty, and I want that named in this room. To the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, I thank you for the cooperation we continue to enjoy. Nobody does this work alone. It is done by institutions that share what they know, that trust one another, and that are willing to place their own mandates beneath the security of the nation. And to our colleagues in the media, thank you for keeping Nigerians informed. I ask only that we allow the investigation to run its course. Where this consignment was going, and who was expecting it, are questions now before the courts and the investigators, and I will not prejudge them from this podium.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, let me end where I began, with the tables in front of us. Every firearm we stop before it reaches the wrong hands is a life that may have been saved. We will never know whose life it was. We will never meet that person, and that person will never know our names. That is exactly why this work matters, and why it will continue. The Nigeria Customs Service remains committed to the protection of our borders, and to the shared effort of making this country safer.

 

This occasion is significant because it demonstrates our collective commitment to strengthening national security and ensuring that arms and other controlled items are properly accounted for and managed in accordance with the law.

 

The Nigeria Customs Service remains committed to supporting the Federal Government’s efforts to combat the illicit movement and proliferation of small arms and light weapons. We recognize that effective border management requires not only enforcement, but also strong collaboration among all relevant security and regulatory agencies.

 

The handover taking place today therefore represents more than a transfer of items. It is a symbol of inter-agency cooperation, accountability, and our shared responsibility to protect the peace and security of our nation.

On behalf of the officers and men of this Area Command, I sincerely appreciate the Comptroller-General of Customs Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR psc(+) Phd for his leadership and for making this important engagement possible. We also appreciate the National Coordinating Council for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons for its continued partnership.

 

I am confident that this collaboration will continue to yield positive results in the fight against the proliferation of illicit arms and contribute meaningfully to national security.

 

In the same spirit of inter-agency cooperation, I wish to briefly acknowledge another significant seizure made by the Service at Tin Can Island Port. Two 40-foot containers were intercepted containing illicit cannabis-infused products concealed among other imported goods. The seizures comprised Delta-8 cannabis-infused pre-roll cookies, Delta-8 cannabis-infused gummies and cannabis-infused cookies, with a combined street value of ₦373,802,640.

 

Those illicit substances will also be formally handed over today to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for further investigation and other actions within its statutory mandate. This reflects our shared commitment to ensuring that prohibited drugs intercepted at our ports do not find their way into Nigerian communities.