The official is one of the seven Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officials arrested and detained for allegedly accepting N12 billion bribes from smugglers who are still walking freely.
An elaborate campaign aimed at whitewashing the image of Kayode Kolade, a high-ranking customs official indicted for corruption, is afoot.
Mr Kolade is one of the seven Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officials detained but later released for allegedly accepting N12 billion bribes from smugglers.
PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported that Mr Kolade, the comptroller of Federal Operations Unit Zone C Port Harcourt, had N9.5 billion proceeds of bribes from smugglers traced to him by the EFCC.
He was said to have received the sum between 2015 and 2023 personally and through proxies.
The EFCC detained him for three days in December where he spent Christmas Day. He has refunded N50 million to the anti-graft agency and committed to refunding N800 million within a short period.
Curiously and to the dismay of Nigerians who reacted to the initial story we published, the EFCC has not prosecuted Mr Kolade and the six other indicted officers. The leadership of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has also allowed them back to their respective duty posts without reprimand.
Both the EFCC and the NCS have refused to respond to PREMIUM TIMES enquiries on the matter.
PREMIUM TIMES, however, understands that the story struck a nerve within the highest hierarchy of the customs.
But while Nigerians await punitive actions against the indicted officers, this newspaper gathered that top customs officials have now engaged in a futile attempt to investigate how this newspaper got wind of the matter.
Whitewashing Mr Kolade
Meanwhile, this newspaper has observed a flood of articles aimed at whitewashing Mr Kolade, who gathered about 80 per cent of the total proceeds of bribes uncovered by the EFCC.
For days in the past week, articles aimed at whitewashing Mr Kolade flooded the media space. Several media platforms -both digital and traditional platforms - published an article praising Mr Kolade's achievement as the Comptroller, FOU Zone C.
While some of these platforms published the article as an opinion piece, others published it as a news story and credited the statement to the indicted Mr Kolade.
The DailyPost and Leadership newspaper, for instance, culled parts of the article and published it as a news story.
The DailyPost published "FOU Zone C Customs Command secured N5.3bn seizures in 2023", and quoted Mr Kolade as saying the command under him seized items including "pangolin scales, foreign parboiled rice, cannabis sativa (Indian hemp), fake pharmaceutical products, tramadol, used vehicles, used tyres, used clothing and explosive raw materials, among others."
Leadership newspaper, meanwhile, reported that smugglers are losing a huge amount of money since Mr Kolade's appointment as Comptroller of the zone.
"LEADERSHIP reports that since the appointment of Comptroller Kayode Kolade, as the Customs Area Controller of the units, smugglers have been losing huge millions of naira to the federal government on a daily basis," the report stated.
The Leadership report also quoted some clearing agents operating at the Onne seaport, as applauding Mr Kolade, "for blocking revenue leakages from the eastern port."
Other platforms used more patronising headlines and published the entire article as an opinion piece. The article listed the achievements of Mr Kolade, including awards he was said to have received in the course of his career.
The Eyewitness, for instance, published; "The giant stride of Comptroller Kolade as anti-smuggling czar". Monarch News used "Comptroller Kolade: Many milestones of a nightmare to economic saboteurs". Daily Trend published "After 1-Year in the Saddle: Compt Kayode Kolade Makes Giant Strides At FOU C' Command". Financial Business published "Comptroller Kolade rattles smugglers in FOU Zone C."
None of the articles mentioned the corruption allegations against him.
Other indicted Customs officials
Other indicted customs officials include the NCS' Area Controller Zone B Kaduna, Ibrahim Jalo. Mr Jalo, who only assumed duty as the Area Controller Zone B in January last year, was found with $31,200 and N500,000 in cash at the time of his arrest, a source with knowledge of the investigations told PREMIUM TIMES
The EFCC also traced suspected proceeds of bribes from smugglers totalling N1.1 billion to him.
Our sources revealed that the customs officer promptly refunded N250 million, with a promise to refund the balance.
The EFCC also traced N126 million to Mr Jalo's personal assistant, Umar Tafarki. Mr Tafarki has also refunded N12 million.
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Another indicted officer, Nurudeen Musa, is the Comptroller of Enforcement, Kaduna Zone. The EFCC traced N950 million to him. The anti-graft agency has recovered N583 million from him after he spent days in detention. He has also promised to refund the rest.
The EFCC's investigation found that Mr Musa, who previously served as Area Comptroller, Katsina Area command, was extraordinarily wealthy and owned lots of assets including two filling stations and large trucks, all of which investigators suspect were acquired with illicit funds.
Meanwhile, Hamisu Ibrahim, the officer in charge of Operation FOU Zone B, Kaduna, was suspected to have garnered N120 million in bribes from smugglers between 2019 and 2023. As of January, he has refunded N13 million and promised to refund the rest.
Meanwhile, Madugu Saleh and Mohammed Rabiu were suspected to have received N85 million and 84 million respectively from smugglers.
Mr Saleh has refunded N13.5 million and promised to refund the rest.
Mr Rabiu, the officer in charge of patrol on the Agangaro/Jibia Road, refunded N15 million to the anti-graft agency.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe
