The family of Jacob Taiwo Odeyemi, a Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) official, has expressed concern regarding his location.
Odeyemi was last seen by his family at the Idiroko Command in 2020, and his whereabouts have been unknown since.
The missing officer’s family has now asked the federal government and the NCS for assistance in locating their relative.
Mr Peter Odeyemi, the family’s leader and the missing officer’s elder brother, begged the federal government and the NCS to find Taiwo alive in an interview with DAILY POST on Saturday.
He stated that the family’s efforts to gain the Customs Service’s attention in order to learn the whereabouts of the missing officer were futile.
“What we need from the Federal Government of Nigeria is assistance in contacting Nigeria Customs in Idi Iroko and the team that Taiwo Odeyemi last worked with on the day of the incident to inform his family of Taiwo’s whereabouts because we have not been officially informed by them,” he added.
“Then look into his family’s welfare because his salary was stopped two months after the incident.” We demand Nigerian Customs to quit manipulating the security system and covering up the situation. We wish to help the Nigerian Police do their job by fulfilling every request they make of us.
“As a concerned family in the community of the incident, we also conducted our own investigation. We were informed that the team leader and his team on that day, 03/12/2020, knew everything about Taiwo, but to our surprise, the PRO to Nigeria Customs and the Controller at the time did not provide the Police with the necessary information and evidence to do their job.” Instead, Taiwo’s wife told me that the public relations officer (PRO) was making her grief and pain worse by verbally bullying her. All we need from the Nigerian government and Nigeria Customs is assistance in determining what happened to Taiwo Odeyemi.”
Yetunde Iyabo Odeyemi, the wife of the missing customs officer, spoke with DAILY POST and asked concerned authorities to assist her in locating her husband.
Following the family’s appeal, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service’s Ogun I Command, Hammed Bukoye Oloyede, stated that some customs officers were attacked by smugglers on the day the missing officer was last seen, and Odeyemi’s whereabouts have not been known since.
He also stated that he would publish a comment about the incident in 2020.
“This is a press release published in the aftermath of the tragic occurrence that resulted in the death of CA I (T) Odeyemi Taiwo. His whereabouts are unknown at the moment.”
“On Thursday, 3rd of December, 2020 at about 12:10 hours, a team of Officers and Men of Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun I Command while on routine mobile patrol along Olorunleke village, near Alapoti, Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State intercepted some vehicles loaded with bags of foreign parboiled rice,” Oloyede said in a statement sent to DAILY POST Saturday evening.
“When the suspected smugglers saw the patrol team, they tried to evade arrest and eventually began shooting sporadically at the officers.” As a result, the two sides engaged in a fierce exchange of fire. As a result, the patrol team requested reinforcement. However, prior to the intervention of further units, they were overrun by the smugglers/hoodlums’ numerical strength. In the following chaos, the team tactically withdrew to allow reinforcement teams to arrive.
“When the military personnel and other Customs units arrived, including the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) as requested by the CAC, the hoodlums had already vandalized one of the team’s official vehicles.” CA I (T) Taiwo J Odeyemi, an official driver, was later discovered to be missing and has yet to be found as of the time of writing this report. In light of the foregoing, the investigation is ongoing, and efforts are being made in collaboration with other security agencies and other essential stakeholders to identify the missing officer and rescue him alive. Finally, the CAC has guaranteed that “those responsible for this attack will face the full wrath of the law and justice.”
