By Fresh reports hitting the news wave has it that the perceived hatred from the Nigerian Senate to the retired Col Hamid Ali-led Nigeria Custom Service was borne out of the seized luxury vehicle belonging to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.
This new development was revealed by a report made by SaharaReporters.
It was gathered that a N294m bulletproof Range Rover belonging to the Senator Saraki was seized by the Customs after the driver presented fake documents on request by the officers.
The car was intercepted by officials of the Customs on January 11th and immediately impounded the vehicle after it discovered the duty receipt which was meant to be N74m showed a paltry sum of N8m.
Apart from the short fall in the duty paid, the receipts presented by the driver were also fake. The driver also presented a letter from the National Assembly liaison office in Lagos, which indicated that the driver was authorised to drive the Senate President’s vehicle.
Among fake documents presented by the driver was a fake End-User Certificate from the National Security Adviser, a document expected to be in possession of every owner of bulletproof vehicles. This prompted the seizure of the car.
Letters however started making ways from the office of the National Assembly in Abuja to the Customs demanding the release of the vehicle, a request which was severally turned down.
Through the month of January and half of February, efforts made by officials of the Senate President to secure the release of the vehicle were rejected by the Nigeria Customs Service as original documents, including the duty receipt and end-user certificate were never presented.
It was also discovered that the importer had earlier reduced the face value of the vehicle during documentation. The officials disclosed that the real value of the car was discovered via the official website of the makers of the vehicle.
The whole saga forced the lawmakers to request the Customs to stop any further efforts to confiscate vehicles found to have evaded payment of the duties.
The Customs boss, Ali at several times revealed that top government officials have been evading duty on luxury vehicles which they continually import into the country.
Since the seized vehicle scenario commenced, Ali have received vigorous attacks from the Senators, including Senator Dino Melaye, one of the lawmakers who has eyes for luxury vehicles and boasts of many of them in his garage.
Some of the attacks have been the forced attempt to wear his uniform which he has not been wearing since he was appointed to the position of Comptroller General of Customs.
