Trial of Naval chiefs over missing ship begins
By Alex Olise
THE long awaited court-martial of three top Naval officers over the missing oil bunkering vessel, MT. African Pride, begins today in Lagos.
The Director of Naval Information, Capt. Senebi Crowther Hungiapuku, confirmed this to The Guardian last night.
According to him, the exercise will begin as from 2.00 p.m.
The trial was shelved last week following the inability of the Navy to constitute qualified officers to try the top officers.
Those to face the court-martial are former Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Anthonio Ibinabo Bob-Manuel, Rear Admiral Francis Agbiti, Chief of Training and Operations (CTOPS) and Rear Admiral Samuel Kolawole who until the incident was the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command.
The Guardian learnt that the fresh arrangement followed a directive from the Presidency that the Defence Headquarters should ensure that the trial is not delayed.
The court-martial will be headed by Rear Admiral Joseph Ajayi, who is the Director of Intelligence at the Naval Headquarters.
The board was reconstituted when it was discovered that the former board members were below the rank capable of conducting the trial of officers in the rank of admirals.
The three top officers were alleged to have committed the offence of negligence for their inability to give appropriate feedback to the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan, since the ship was arrested on March 2003, which led to its disappearance in August 2004.
The vessel was arrested near the Bar Beach in Lagos with 11,500 metric tonnes of stolen crude oil, which was siphoned from an oil pipeline in the Niger-Delta region.
Twenty-two foreigners who were arrested along with the ship are currently facing court charges.`*****okay
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