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Navy defends Afolayan, chides Duke over missing vessel
By
Chris Agbanbu
Deputy Bureau Chief, Abuja
Headquarters of the
Nigerian Naval said at the weekend in Abuja that it is not surprised at the
sweeping statements made by Navy Captain Peter Duke against the Chief of Naval
Staff, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan, describing the former as a sinking officer
dragging anything on his path along.
Naval spokesman, Navy
Captain Senibi Hingiapuko, said in a three-page reaction that Duke was recently
convicted by a general court-martial on a three-count charge of falsification
of document, conduct prejudice to good order and service discipline and
negligent performance of duties.
He said Duke was tried
and found guilty on all the three charges, adding that his testimony that
Afolayan knew about the disappearance of the missing ship was totally false and
unfounded.
Hingiapuko said the
standard operational procedure in the Navy is that when a ship is suspected for
illegal lifting of crude oil, the vessel is arrested and the process known as
the unbroken chain rule is employed in testing the contents of the vessel to
ascertain its actual status.
The rule, he noted,
entails that samples of products be taken and sent to the laboratory for
analysis and that all interested parties or their representatives such as Naval
personnel and the vessel’s crew members must be present from the point at
which the samples are taken and to the laboratory where an analysis is made.
He stated that such
samples are taken to the Marine Technical Service Incorporated (MTSI)- a
chemical laboratory for proper analysis and authentication, but captain Duke,
then commanding officer of NNS Beecroft refused to accept the MTSI reports
obtained through due process, in connection with MT Cape, Geojean, which was
arrested for illegal bunkering. Instead, Naval spokesman added, Duke directed
an investigating officer to use a falsified laboratory report from one SGS Oil
and Gas Services purported to be a chemical laboratory company operating in
Lagos.
According to him, when
the investigating officer was reluctant to carry out his directive he sent two
people who claimed to be representatives of the arrested vessel to induce the
officer to compromise in his report to the Naval authorities by stating that
the arrested vessel was carrying low poor fuel oil (LPFO) instead of crude oil.
However, this was
verified after another test carried out by Shell Petroleum Development Company
(SPDC) Warri, and consequently a Board of Inquiry was set up to investigate the
circumstances surrounding the refusal of Captain Duke to follow the operating
procedure usually employed.
The findings of the
Board necessitated the setting up of the Court martial to try the officers for
the offences. Subsequently, Hingiapuko disclosed, Duke was tried, convicted and
sentenced with dismissal on the three-count charge respectively.
“It is therefore
not surprising that Captain Duke would make unsubstantiated allegations against
the person of the Chief of Naval Staff and other senior Naval Officers”,
the Navy spokesman added.
He stated that 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 should not go down
alone.
Hingiapuko alerted
members of the public that Captain Duke is under close custody because of the
gravity of the offence, pending the approval of his sentence by the appropriate
authority.
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