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Last Updated: Saturday, October 23rd, 2004 HOME | Previous Page David-West says Nigeria is on trial over missing MV African Pride tayo elebijo senior correspondent Former Petroleum Minister, Professor Tam David-West has taken a critical look at the ongoing drama over the disappearance of a vessel, MV African Pride over which some naval generals are to be tried and concluded that the whole episode was a national shame. Speaking with Saturday Independent in Lagos, the former minister said: “It is a great shame to the country, what is on trial is Nigeria and not President Olusegun Obasanjo, nor the Navy.” According to him, in military law, if officers are appointed to try suspects that have undergone court martial and such officers refuse to comply, they are deemed culpable and liable to face court martial  because they have compromised. He regretted that illegal bunkering and theft of crude oil have become a sore on the present administration, a situation that was completely absent during the regime of General Mohammed Buhari whose government ensured that Nigeria’s water and air ways were patrolled 24 hours by joint military task forces. West said there was a time that a Greek ship which had stolen Nigerian crude left the country with the connivance of some people .” But Buhari made sure he pursued the ship to Greece, instituted a case there and won.  He even got back the stolen oil for this country”, he added. The matter he noted, was reported by the international media, stressing that “things are the way they are because the system is corrupt,  and there‘s no discipline in the country.” West who said bunkering is different from stealing of crude, pointed out that the case of the MV African pride waßs stealing because those engaged in bunkering are usually licensed to operate. According to him, during the Buhari regime, 18 companies were licensed but well over 1000 illegal bunkering operations were going on and Nigeria was loosing $2million dollars a day as a result until the  Navy and Air force joint taskforce was instituted. “The operations of the illegal bunkers were stemmed as a result of the decree 20 of 1984 which stipulated death penalty on illegal bunkering,” he noted.   Copyright� 2004. All Rights Reserved. Independent Newspapers Limited Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.independentng.com e-mail: [email protected] Designed By Powered By DNet.

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