The heads of two key federal agencies who are also close allies of
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari have been sparring over allegations and counter
\nallegations of unprofessionalism and illegality.<\/p>\n
The disagreement by the two officials appears to confirm insinuations of
\ndivision among some leading lights of the Buhari administration.<\/p>\n
The turf war stems from a letter written by the Director-General of the In the letter, the security chief accused the Nigerian Customs Service, PREMIUM TIMES sighted correspondences revealing wrangling between Mr. The said levy, as Mr. Daura reported to the President, was illegal as it In international trade circle, TIP is a customs\u2019 procedure under which Ports insiders further explained that it is a condition that the goods But before it is issued, those knowledgeable about NCS operations In Mr. Daura\u2019s memo, he further reported that the alleged introduction of He reported to the President that Major Oil Marketers Association of A week after receiving the memo, Mr. Buhari forwarded it to Mr. Ali, In his response, Mr. Ali told the President that the SSS under Mr. Daura He explained that the said vessel, MT Histria Ivory, was truly detained He said the detention was to ascertain whether it had TIP or liable for While the investigation was ongoing, before Mr. Daura\u2019s memo to the MOMAN, PREMIUM TIMES learnt, wrote the complaint letter one week before Mr. Ali told the President: \u201cIt was this letter copied to the DSS that the \u201cThe DSS copied all the allegations of MOMAN almost verbatim without any \u201cThis would have been in line with the Federal Government\u2019s efforts of Mr. Ali insisted that the issuance of TIP does not involve payment of He further reported to the President that MOMAN which made the original In the MOMAN statement understood to have been attached to Mr. Ali\u2019s reply Mr. Ali said the NCS further pressed MOMAN to help identify culpable However, up to the time of writing the letter no response was received He added that the agent of the detained ship, Integrated Shipping Service The agent\u2019s statement was attached to the NCS\u2019 reply to the President, \u201cProper investigation should always be carried out on complaints such as \u201cThe DGSS should therefore be advised to approach issues professionally The disagreement between the officials came to light weeks after Mr. Daura A fact-check by the newspaper showed that the allegations made by the SSS Premium Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The heads of two key federal agencies who are also close allies of President Muhammadu Buhari have been sparring over allegations and counter allegations of unprofessionalism and illegality. The disagreement…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nState Security Service (SSS), Lawal Daura, to Mr. Buhari on September 8<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n
\n(NCS), of introducing a $25,000 as new Temporary Import Permit (TIP), levy
\non each vessel that berths to discharge petroleum products in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\nDaura, a kinsman of the President, and the Director-General of NCS, Hameed
\nAli, a retired colonel and ally of Mr. Buhari.<\/p>\n
\nwas not provided for on the PPRA template, not receipted, and could
\nincrease the cost of petrol by 56 kobo per litre.<\/p>\n
\ncertain goods can be brought into a country without payment of duties or
\ntaxes and without import prohibition and restriction.<\/p>\n
\nwill be issued for certain period of time and exported back at the
\nexpiration of TIP.<\/p>\n
\nregarding the issuance said an applicant must post a bond to cover the
\nimport duty and other charges inclusive of the 25 per cent penalty in case
\nof violation of the terms.<\/p>\n
\n$25,000 TIP levy followed the detention of a vessel, MT Histria Ivory, at
\nApapa by NCS operatives.<\/p>\n
\nNigeria (MOMAN) made the complaint that formed the basis of his memo.<\/p>\n
\ndemanding his \u201csummary report of your considered view\u201d.
\n[president-buhari-jets-out-to-
\nappeared to be more interested in smear campaign and personal vendetta
\nthan in thorough investigation and anti-corruption efforts of the
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
\nbut that was after it was sighted discharging cargo at Apapa Jetty.<\/p>\n
\npayment of duty.<\/p>\n
\nPresident, MOMAN alleged imposition of $25,000 TIP levy per vessel by the
\nNCS via a letter copied to the Minister for Petroleum Resources, Ibe
\nKachikwu; Minister for Finance, Kemi Adeosun; the SSS and the Customs
\nchief.<\/p>\n
\nMr. Daura sent the memo to the president.<\/p>\n
\nDepartment relied on without any investigation and reported to Mr.
\nPresident that NCS is collecting $25 thousand TIP levy without issuing
\nreceipt any receipt.<\/p>\n
\ninput from them. The Department should have investigated the matter with a
\nview to bringing the perpetrators of the alleged dastardly act to justice.<\/p>\n
\nstamping out corruption in the country. It seems however that the DSS is
\nmore interested in smear campaign than doing what is right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nmoney and that the NCS had stopped conducting cash transactions since
\n2001.<\/p>\n
\ncomplaint was invited by the NCS to bring evidence its members were being
\ncharged TIP levy.<\/p>\n
\nto the President, the body reportedly said the payment which increased
\nfrom $5,000 to $25,000 was made through shipping agents.<\/p>\n
\nCustoms officials involved in such shady deals.<\/p>\n
\nfrom MOMAN despite numerous follow-up telephone calls, the retired colonel
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\nLimited, was also interviewed, and that stated \u201cno Customs officer
\ndemanded for an unreceipted payment of $25 thousand from us or our
\nclient\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\nPREMIUM TIMES understands.<\/p>\n
\nthis which casts serious doubt on the integrity of services and
\norganisations with a view to ascertaining the truth or otherwise of such
\nallegations before reporting such to the Mr. President.<\/p>\n
\nand not allow sentiments or personal vendetta to drive his actions,\u201d Mr.
\nAli told the President and copied Mr. Daura, saying \u201cabove for your
\ninformation please.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nwas caught in another controversy after he levelled allegations against
\nActing Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim
\nMagu, to frustrate the confirmation of his appointment by the Senate.<\/p>\n
\nwere substantially false.<\/p>\n