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Navy clears Afolayan over missing ship
From Madu Onuorah, Abuja
NAVAL Headquarters yesterday described as false, claims by a witness in the on-going probe by the House of Representatives Committee on the Navy on the missing merchant oil tanker, MT African Pride, Navy Captain Peter Duke, that the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan was involved in the disappearance of the ship.
Describing the allegation by Duke as "totally false and unfounded", Director of Naval Information, Capt. Sinebi Hungiapuko, said in a three-page statement released in Abuja last night that the officer "has been tried, convicted and sentenced with dismissal on a three-count charge. It is therefore not surprising that Capt. Duke would make unsubstantiated allegations against the person of the Chief of Naval Staff and other senior naval officers. His case is that of a drowning man looking for whatever possible straw to cling unto or better still, a man who thinks his fate is sealed and as such, he should not go down alone. It is not enough for one to make frivolous allegations without substantiating them".
But Naval Headquarters was silent on reports of a directive from The Presidency for it to halt the on-going trial of three Rear Admirals for alleged connivance and negligence in the disappearance of the missing ship.
Former Chief of Training and Operations, Naval Headquarters, Rear Admiral Francis Agbiti, Former Flag Officers Commanding, Western Naval Command, Rear Admirals Anthony Bob-Manuel and Babatunde Kolawole are facing a General Court-Martial (GCM) headed by the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Rear Admiral Joseph Ajayi, over the missing ship.
The Presidency, a source noted, had felt "embarrassed by the allegations and the hasty manner the naval authorities had rushed into the trial of the three officers without waiting for the House Committee on Navy to conclude its probe and submit its reports."
Duke had in his testimony to the House Committee alleged that he is being "unduly" punished because he resisted the entreaties of Vice Admiral Afolayan to release the missing ship and other arrested ships while he was serving as the Commanding Officer of the naval base located in Apapa, Lagos called NNS BEECROFT.
He also alleged that a member on the GCM panel had in the past pressurised him to release the arrested ships. He was the Commanding Officer of the base when the ship disappeared.
Duke, Naval Headquarters noted, has been convicted by a GCM on a three-count charge of falsification of document, conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline and negligent performance of duties. These offences, the naval authorities stated, were not in connection with MT African Pride but another arrested ship - MT Cape Geojean.
His offence, it stated, was in connection with breaching the Standard Operating Procedure in the Navy, which requires that "when a ship is suspected for illegal lifting of crude oil, the vessel is arrested. A process known as the Unbroken Chain Rule is employed in testing the contents of the vessel to ascertain its actual status. The rule entails that for samples of products to be taken and sent to the laboratory for analysis. All interested parties or their representatives such as naval personnel and the vessel's crew members must be present from the taking of the samples from the vessel to the laboratory where an analysis of the samples is made. Usually such samples are taken to the Marine Technical Service Incorporated (MTSI) a chemical laboratory for proper analysis and authentication."
Duke, it said, refused to accept the "MTSI report obtained through due process, in connection with MT Cape Geojean which was arrested for illegal bunkering. Captain Duke directed an investigation officer to use a falsified laboratory report from one SGS Oil and Gas Services purported to be a chemical company located in Lagos."
Thereafter, the Naval authorities alleged, Duke tried to influence the investigating officer to compromise in his report to it by stating that the arrested vessel was carrying Low Poor Fuel Oil (LPFO) instead of crude oil.
This, it added, was verified after another test carried out by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Warri.
Sources told The Guardian that President Olusegun Obasanjo had over the weekend agreed with the House Committee on the Navy to halt the trial of the three Rear Admirals as their trial "smacks of not only a seeming contempt of the House but appears rash and hasty. It will only be reasonable to await the report of the House probe into the matter before apportioning blame. This is more so as the affected officers had earlier testified before the House committee."
The directive by the Presidency, the source added, was to avert possible miscarriage of justice.`
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