Operatives of the Border Drill Operations of the Nigeria Customs Service have seized 140 bags of foreign rice at a warehouse in Daura belonging to Alhaji Habu Sarkin-Fulani, a confidant of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Sarkin-Fulani is a trusted ally of the president who receives and conveys gift items to the president.
DAILY NIGERIAN reliably gathered that the customs operatives, acting on a tip-off, stormed Fegi quarters in Daura, the hometown of the president, and seized the rice.
Sources said the rice was given to the president through Mr Sarkin-Fulani before ban on importation of foreign rice was imposed.
“Alhaji Sarkin-Fulani is a trusted ally of President Muhammadu Buhari. Alhaji Sarkin-Fulani will never touch what does not belong to him, even at the risk of rotting away. He keeps everything meant for the president in his warehouse at Fegi area of Daura. Even the president’s farm and cows, Alhaji Sarkin-Fulani is in charge.
“Whenever the president visits Daura, he gives the president account of what is in store for him, and he (Buhari) would direct how the gift items could be utilised or distributed,” a source in Daura told our reporter.
When contacted for comment, spokesman for the Nigerian Customs, Joseph Attah, neither answered our reporter’s call nor responded to a text message seeking response of the service.
Customs officials have been raiding warehouses and markets since Nigeria banned importation of foreign rice last year.
Last week, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, RIFAN, urged the federal government to sustain its current border closure in order to boost the economy.