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The estimated 1500DWT tanker was arrested for carrying about 15,000 litres of crude oil worth about N20 billion.
One of the largest vessels ever seized on the nation's territorial waters for illegal bunkering of crude, it was part of the exhibits to be tendered by the Federal Government in the prosecution of the crew of the merchant tanker.
The Guardian learnt that the ship brought some refined fuel last year and on leaving the shores of the country, had some crude oil, which was reportedly loaded without the approval of the appropriate authorities.
Said a Naval officer at the weekend: "Our security surveillance team was alerted about a ship that was leaving the deport without due clearance in early January. This instigated some actions, which eventually led to the ship and its crew being detained.
"There was a further directive from Abuja (Chief Naval Command, via Presidency) that an investigations team be set up on why the ship was leaving the country with consignment of that magnitude."
The officer confirmed that on inquiry, the crewmembers said that the ship had to maintain "vacuum obligation rights," which makes a ship not to sail empty after discharging its consignment.
Hence three quarters of the ship's content was water, with only the balance made up of crude oil.
However, before the panel could turn in its report, another directive was said to have been given to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to recover the crude oil from the seized ship and sell the same, pending the completion of the investigation.
But it was gathered that the Navy reached an understanding with the Nigeria Police to work out the modalities of maintaining security at the ship, on an arrangement that involved combined team of the Marine Department of the Force and a private security firm.
It was gathered that in February, some Navy ratings and some senior officers were court martial for their role in the loading of the ship's cargo and sailing without "obtaining necessary papers."
This was sequel to the January preliminary investigation that indicted the officers who were on duty on the day the ship loaded its consignment.
But due to what was described as a lull in taking the final action on the fate of the ship, attention of the officials were said to have been shifted from it, leading to its alleged disappearance.
The Navy officials, who volunteered information on the issue, contended that this was "the reason behind the mystery sounding the sudden disappearance of the ship and its cargo."
The disappearance is the puzzle the government is trying to unravel. Already, indications are that the Presidency wants the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the disappearance.
The vessel's crew, mainly Russians, Romanians, Polish and a few Nigerians currently standing trial in a Lagos High Court.
At the time of the arrest, about five of the ships were in the custody of the Nigerian Navy, in its bases in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Warri.
Specifically, African Pride was in the custody of the Navy's Western Command with headquarters in Lagos.
But at a meeting held January 29, 2004 and chaired by President Olusegun Obasanjo at the State House, Abuja, the President gave directives to the stakeholders on the handling and protection of the vessels.
The meeting was attended by, among others, the Minister of Transport, Chief Abiye Sekibo, Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Samuel Afolayan, Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Funsho Kupolokun.
The President's directives include the following:
- The Nigerian Navy, which had been in custody of the seized vessels, should hand them over to the Nigeria Police for protection and prosecution.
- The NNPC was to evacuate the petroleum products (crude oil) aboard the vessels.
- The Nigeria Police are to hand over the convicted ships to the Ministry of Transport.
The Guardian gathered that the Nigerian
Navy, as the executing arm of the directives, wrote the Ministry of Transport, Inspector General of Police and the Group Managing Director of the NNPC about the decisions of the January 29 meeting.
And rather sent signals on the decisions to its commands, as is normal, the Navy headquarters wrote to them, directing that they fully comply, and with dispatch.
But sources also said that instead of providing protection directly for the ships now in their custody, as directed by President Obasanjo, the Police approached a local unit of the Navy for assistance in guarding the ships, without informing either the Police or Naval headquarters on the arrangements.
And because the normal procedures were not followed in the continued protection of the ships by the local unit of the Navy, the Navy's standard guard duty rules were not followed.
According to the sources, "under no circumstances, in normal guard duties, would less than two persons be left to guard a ship. But on the day the ship disappeared, only one rating was guarding the ship. And that one was not on board."
"And the ship left while its original crew was still in detention, facing trial on charges of illegal bunkering. And during the disappearance, there were no reports of scuffle or struggle either on board or on land before the ship roared to life and disappeared into the night," the said revealed.
When the disappearance was reported, Navy headquarters, a Presidency source noted, immediately deployed its helicopters to search for it "but found no trace of it."
Already, the Navy has constituted a Board of Inquiry (BoI) or an investigation panel to get to the root of the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the vessel.
The panel, currently sitting, aims to unearth the following:
- Who gave the directive for naval personnel to continue providing guards for the vessel against the directive of President Obasanjo and naval headquarters
- Whether any of its personnel, knowingly or wilfully disobeyed lawful directives of the Navy's high command ostensibly obeyed unlawful orders, and why.
- If any of its personnel engaged in conduct prejudicial to service discipline.
The findings of the panel will warrant whether a court martial would try any offending personnel or show that its personnel fulfilled its own side of the presidential directives.
Sources disclosed that President Obasanjo, who views the disappearance of the ship as "a national embarrassment," would soon meet with the Minister of Transport, Chief of Naval Staff, Inspector
General of Police, Group Managing Director of NNPC and the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu to unravel the issues surrounding the disappearance of the vessels.
The invitation of Ribadu to the meeting is for the organisation to lead investigations into the disappearance as the Federal Government views it as "economic crime and sabotage of the nation's economy."
At both Navy and Police headquarters, officials were not ready on the issue. Each wanted to avoid a semblance of inter-service bickering.
For instance, at the Navy headquarters, an officer told The Guardian, "the ship was duly handed over to the Police as directed by the President. What happened to it after that we are not in position to know! You can go to them (Police) to find out what happened."
At the Police headquarters, an officer bounced back the question: "Go to the Navy. They know what happened. Maybe, they would tell you the truth."
Conflicting reports from the Navy have neither helped matters nor dowsed the tension that has been generated on the ship's disappearance.
One of the officers at the Western Naval Command told The Guardian at the weekend that: "It (news) came like a rumour to us, that the detained ship had set sail.
"And after full consultations, a recovery team, made up of a military speed boats was set after it, but it is yet to turn its findings. Perhaps, the time the information reached the Navy was too late."
The officer said that such could be possible if the security team to relieve those on duty failed to report in good time.
The Director of Navy Information, Commander Kabiru Aliyu could not be reached, though his assistants said that they were waiting clearance from the headquarters before official statement could be made on the issue.
"We are not authorised to talk on issues like that," was their comment.
Contacted on phone, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Chris Olakpe said the police have no hands on movement of ships on the high seas.
"How can the police be dragged into the issue, when it is solely the duty of the navy to take care of detained ships on the high seas."
