In June this year Naijiant.com published an exclusive on how Nigeria Customs officials demanded millions of naira in bribes in order to allow the Nnaji Family Foundation to import basketball equipment into Nigeria.
The foundation, run by the family of Denver Nuggets forward Zeke Nnaji, had all the necessary authorisations to bring in the equipment. But it didn’t stop the officials, led by a the Public Relations Officer at Tin Can Island Area Command, Ngozi Okwara, from demanding and receiving bribes to clear the container with the equipment.
Nigeria Customs officials exposed in extortion scam against NBA star’s charity
The foundation, despite advice from a legal luminary to write off the amounts paid in bribes as “business expenses”, decided to sue the Customs officials. With Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), waiting to pounce, counsel for the accused pleaded with the foundation to settle.
Our source claimed that the EFCC asked the Customs officials to settle or face an EFCC prosecution as well. With our knowledge of how the EFCC operates, it is very likely that they could have demanded their own bribes to arrange a “soft landing” for the corrupt Customs officers.
It was confirmed to us this evening that amounts received in bribes, totalling about 4m naira had been repaid to the account of the foundation.
