Yes
Go!
He must!!
Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, must go! Yes, you heard me correctly. He must pack his bags, clear his desk and prepare to leave!
Honestly, I do not know why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed this man to lead the Nigeria Customs Service almost three years ago.
His appointment must rank among the most questionable decisions ever taken by the President.
Yes!
I am not an alarmist.
Neither am I driven by malice, envy or political bitterness.
I have not one, two or three reasons for saying so.
I have 10 solid reasons why Wale Adeniyi, the Customs oga, must go!
Spare me just a few minutes.
Take a seat, cross your legs and follow the evidence carefully.
By the time I finish profiling this man and analysing what the evils he has done to the Nigeria Customs Service, you may be tempted to gather stones to injure him, or bless me with a curse for revealing to you where this guy has pushed Nigeria Customs Service to
However, before examining his alleged offences against institutional decay, let me declare my personal grievance.
Adewale Adeniyi must go because he once committed an unforgivable offence against me.
Last year, when he visited Okemesi-Ekiti to honour the distinguished journalist and publisher, Chief Dare Babarinsa, who was celebrating his birthday, the Customs oga did not properly acknowledge my presence!
Imagine that!
He did not suspend the ceremony, seize the microphone, order the band to stop playing and announce: “Ladies and gentlemen, Mr, Chief, Evangelist so, so, so has entered the building!”
What greater evidence of incompetence does Nigeria require?
How can a man who failed to acknowledge my majestic presence in Okemesi be allowed to continue supervising one of the most strategic institutions in the country?
He must go!
But since personal annoyance is not enough to remove a public officer, let us put emotion aside and examine the evidence.
What has this man actually done in Customs after almost three years?
Let us profile him properly.
Bashir Adewale Adeniyi is not an emergency appointee parachuted into the Nigeria Customs Service from an unrelated profession.
He is a career Customs officer who rose through the institution and served in operational, administrative, training, enforcement and public communication positions.
Before becoming Comptroller-General, he had served as National Public Relations Officer, Commandant of the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Assistant Comptroller-General and Acting Deputy Comptroller-General.
President Tinubu therefore appointed a man who understood the institution, knew its weaknesses, recognised its possibilities and had experienced its operations from within.
That itself is suspicious!
