The daughter of a Kano Customs Officer, Zeenat Maliki, has expressed displeasure with the Nigeria Customs Service’s actions in unravelling the circumstances surrounding the whereabouts of her father, who went missing after visiting Lagos State to write a promotional examination.
Zeenat, in a telephone conversation with PUNCH Metro on Wednesday, noted that efforts to get the customs authority to state a clear position on the circumstances that led to her father going missing had proved abortive.
PUNCH Metro reported on July 27 that Abubakar Maliki, who was a serving customs officer in Kano State, had come to Lagos to write a promotional exam.
Zeenat had told our correspondent in a telephone conversation that she had communicated with her father when he arrived in Lagos until the day of his examination before he became incommunicado.
She narrated that after speaking with him on the morning of the examination day, her father informed her that he was about to enter the examination hall.
However, some hours after they last spoke, she said she called his telephone number three times, but the number indicated busy, which prompted her to assume that he was still inside the examination hall.
She continued that all efforts made to reach her father proved abortive, an incident she claimed had thrown the family into a panic mood.
In a further conversation with our correspondent, she disclosed that the family reported the matter to the Kano State Customs office, where she was assured that an investigation had commenced on the matter.
She added that after reporting at the Sokoto State Police Division where she currently resides, efforts were made to track his father’s phone, and it was traced to the examination centre in Ikorodu.
Zeenat continued, “When we called his number after tracking it, it was picked up by someone who claimed that they found the phone at the examination hall in Ikorodu. I was told that he had left the phone at the examination hall.
“I was also advised to get a court order so that we could check if there was a transaction on his account which I did and I was informed by the Sokoto State Police Command that a withdrawal was made on his account via a POS outlet some days after he became unreachable.
“I have also reached out to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police but he has yet to respond. When I called him to explain the situation, he asked that I call back, and he has since not responded to my message.”
Zeenat, who lamented that the back and forth had put her family in trauma and taken a toll on her examination, urged the NCoS leadership to assist her family in unravelling the circumstances surrounding the whereabouts of her father.
“My father has served the customs for about 30 years, and they are treating his case with levity. The family has been traumatised by this incident. I don’t understand how they will claim that his phone was found at the examination hall and his whereabouts were unknown.
“We are appealing to the Nigeria Customs Service to explain the whereabouts of my father. He is all that we have. This incident has taken a toll on my exams because I cannot concentrate,” Zeenat said.
When contacted for a reaction, the Kano State Customs Public Relations Officer, Nura Abdullahi, disclosed that an investigation was still ongoing on the matter.
“There is no update yet on the incident and the investigation is ongoing,” Abdullahi said.
