The Court of Appeal in Kaduna has ordered the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to immediately release 613 bags of foreign rice, 80 bags of millet, and a truck, all seized from 37-year-old businessman Suleiman Mohammed. The goods, valued at approximately N200 million, were impounded by Customs officers along the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway in June 2019.
The judgment came as part of an appeal against the earlier decision of the Federal High Court in Kaduna, which had discharged and acquitted Mohammed of two charges related to the illegal importation of foreign goods.
Justice Ntong Ntong, delivering the ruling on Wednesday, emphasized that the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway is not a land border, thereby nullifying the actions of the NCS in seizing Mohammed’s goods. The court noted that Customs has no legal authority to patrol highways like the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway for the sole purpose of confiscating foreign rice or millet, as these roads fall outside the scope of the importation ban.
The appeal court also sided with the trial court’s judgment, agreeing that the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway is not designated as a land border under Nigerian law. Justice Ntong stated, “The Nigeria Customs Service has no right to patrol the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway or any highway for the sole purpose of arresting and confiscating foreign rice on those highways or expressways because they are not land borders.”
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Furthermore, the court rejected the argument that Mohammed was involved in illegal importation, ruling that he was simply a buyer of the goods from Gusau’s Central Market in Zamfara State, not the importer. This, the court held, absolves him of responsibility for the goods’ importation, and instead places the onus on Customs to arrest the actual importer, not the consumer.
In a sharp critique of the NCS’s handling of the case, Justice Ntong likened their investigation to a “shoddy job” conducted in the “comfort of their office,” condemning the lack of thoroughness. He further stated that if it proves impossible to return the confiscated goods, the NCS is required to compensate Mohammed with an amount equivalent to the current market value of the goods.
The court dismissed the NCS’s appeal, labeling it “meritless” and “bereft of legal basis.” Justice Ntong concluded by ordering the Nigeria Customs Service Board to comply with the court’s orders immediately, urging them to accept the decision as final.
