President Buhari Under Fire Over Customs’ Boss Appointment

President Muhammadu Buhari has come in for severe criticism from Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria, for appointing Col. Hameed Ali (retd) as the new comptroller general of the Nigeria Customs Service.

According to The Punch, Ozekhome in a statement described the appointment as illegal given that Ali is a retired soldier, and that the basis on which he was appointed, his supposed integrity, was insufficient given that people with integrity existed in the customs service.

He said: “The appointment of Hameed Ali has, particularly, raised serious issues of propriety, having been brought in from outside the customs service. By Section 3:11:1 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria official gazette No 24, vol 89, dated March 25, 2002, the choice of the CG of Customs shall be by appointment of a suitable Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs.

“Some unrepentant apologists have already argued, surprisingly, that a gazette is not a law, and so President Buhari was not obliged to follow the extant gazette in appointing one of the six serving Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs as the CG.

“They even argue, tongue in cheek, that he could not find an officer amongst the six DCGs that is incorruptible. Jesus! Why not dissolve the entire Customs then and set up a fresh one?”

He said President Buhari was operating with the mindset of a military man and called on him to remember that Nigeria was practicing a democratic system.

He accused the president of maintaining processes from the past and not engaging in the change that he promised.

“In any event, even if past governments did wrong in bringing in ‘outsiders’ to head Customs, thus demoralising the psyche of career officers, who have spent their lives serving the nation, hoping to rise to the zenith of their careers, why should President Buhari’s government which promised change, repeat same?

“Is it not meant to be change from past bad habits, actions, inactions, maladministration, etc? Was that not why Nigerians voted for him and against Goodluck Jonathan’s government?”

The appointment of Ali as the head of customs has elicited harsh criticism from Igbo activists who accused President Buhari of neglecting the next in line who is an Igbo to appoint a northerner who has not served in the customs before.