Court Jails Three Oil Thieves in Lagos

Court Jails Three Oil Thieves in Lagos

Saturday, July 4, 2020 11:54 am


File: EFCC operatives

By Akin Kuponiyi

A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State south west Nigeria has convicted and sentenced three men Edward Alade, Emmanuel Amqawei and Kennedy Segbenu to one year imprisonment each for illegally dealing in petroleum products.
The defendants were arraigned before the court on 3 July 2020 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on three-count charges bordering of illegally dealing in petroleum products.
The counts read: “MT MABOG, Edward Francis Alade, Amqawei Emmanuel, Kennedy Segbenu, Rapheal Odusanya (At Large), Ajuluwatan Abner (At Large), Okoro George Atang (At Large), Kalu Umeh Ikeng (At Large), and Okorodudu Lucky (At Large) on the 22nd January, 2020, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: dealing in 330 metric tonnes of petroleum products without appropriate license and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, CAP M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under Section 1(17) of the same Act.”
“MT MABOG, Edward Francis Alade, Amqawei Emmanuel, Kennedy Segbenu, Raphael Odusanya (At Large), Ajuluwatan Abner (At Large), Okoro George Atang (At Large), Kalu Umeh Ikenga (At Large)and Okorodudu Lucky (At Large), on the 22nd January, 2020, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, without appropriate license attempted to export 330 metric tonnes of petroleum products and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 1(17) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act CAP M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
The defendants pleaded “guilty” to all the charges, with Amqawei, captain of the ship, taking the guilty plea for the MT MABOG vessel complicit in the crime.
In view of their pleas, EFCC prosecutor, Kamil Bashir, called the prosecution witness, Remedy Yange, an operative of the Commission, to review the facts of the case.

Led in evidence by Bashir, the witness told the court that the Nigerian Navy, NNS Beecroft Apapa, petitioned the EFCC alleging that the defendants were illegally dealing in petroleum products.
The defendants were arrested on January 22, 2020 and handed over to the Commission for investigation and possible prosecution.
“Preliminary investigation was carried out by contacting NIMASA, and Department of Petroleum Resouces DPR,. Yange told the court that the reply from the DPR indicated that “the vessel doesn’t have license to deal in petroleum products or have naval clearance.”
The petition, defendants’ statements, hand-over note of the Navy to the EFCC and the report of the DPR were tendered in evidence and admitted by the court as Exhibits 1-4.
Based on the evidence before the court, the trial judge Justice Rilwan Aikawa found them guilty of all the counts.
The counsel for the defendants, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, noting that his clients were first-time offenders.

He also prayed the court to fine the vessel, MT MABOG, instead of ordering its forfeiture.

However,the prosecutor, opposed the prayers of the defence counsel, saying,
“It is standard practice that vessels involved in such crime should be forfeited to the Federal Government along with its contents.”
In his judgment, Justice Aikawa sentenced the defendants to one year imprisonment each on all counts. Their sentences will run concurrently from the date of their arrest.

The Judge further ordered the forfeiture of the MT MABOG vessel to the Federal Government along with the cargo onboard and any other property found in the vessel.


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