Senate calls for resignation of Customs boss

The Senate on Wednesday called for the resignation of Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Services, Col Hammed Ali as he failed to show up as directed.
The Senators said Ali is unfit to hold public office.
A closed-door session had earlier been held on a letter from the Attorney General of the Federation, (AGF), Abubakar Malami that the Chamber should stay action on the invitation of the to appear in uniform.
The appearance of the Comptroller General was listed in the order paper of the Senate as the fourth business of the day despite the AGF’s letter to suspend his invitation following a court summon.
The item on the Order Paper was captioned “Briefing by the Comptroller-General of the Customs and Excise’’ and slated to be moved by the Leader of the Senate, Sen. Ahmed Lawan.
Ali was asked to appear before the Senate today (Wednesday) in uniform following his appearance in mufti last Thursday.
The Customs CG said on Tuesday that he would not honour the Senate’s invitation following a suit filed over the matter.
”Somebody has sued us. It is subjudice. I have got my writ of summons and they said status quo ante should remain, which means nothing should move until the court makes a pronouncement,” he said. The plantiff is Mohammed Ibrahim, a lawyer.
The senate had last week Thursday asked Ali to appear before it at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in Customs uniform to explain the rationale for directing that vehicle owners should be pay duty on their cars.
When it was clear Ali would not appear before the senate as directed, senators at exactly 10.32 a.m. went into a closed-door session apparently to assess the situation and make a resolution.
The senate had first invited Ali to appear before it on March 8 to brief it on the proposed policy for payment of Customs Duty by vehicles owners, no matter the age of the vehicle.
However, Ali did not honour the invitation on the ground that he had a management meeting.