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Navy, Police for probe over missing ship
AS the authorities of the Nigerian Navy and the Police last week traded blames over the mysterious disappearance of the detained ship used for illegal bunkering, MT African Pride, Minister of Defence, Dr. Musa Kwakwanso, has said that the Federal Government is probing the circumstances leading to the disappearance and will soon make its position known.
Kwakwanso told reporters yesterday at the Air Force Base in Benin shortly after arrival on a two-day visit that the drama was very embarrassing and that the Defence Ministry was determined to get to the root of the matter.
Last week, the Inspector-General (IG) of Police, Tafa Balogun, told the House of Representatives Committee investigating the affair that the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan, was not telling the truth during his earlier testimony.
Afolayan had said that the Police should be held responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the ship. He had also insisted that the Navy passed over the control of the ship in strict accompliance with a presidential directive before the ship disappeared last August 17.
But backing his testimony with documents, Balogun disagreed, saying that the Police was only in custody of some of the detained crew who are mostly foreigners and are, at present, being prosecuted.
The Defence Minister, who was in the Edo State capital for the 70th birthday anniversary of the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, explained that the government "was serious with the security breach that led to the disappearance. We are presently looking into the affair and very soon, we will make our position known," he said.
On the ongoing crisis in Darfur, Sudan, where a pro-government Arab militia Janjaweed is currently waging a violent war against the black population, he said that Nigeria was taking the crisis very seriously and was determined to ensure that there is peace there.
Kwakwanso, the former governor of Kano State, said that it was the determination of President Olusegun Obasanjo to ensure peace in Sudan that necessitated the choice of Abuja as the venue of peace talks between the rebels and representatives of the Sudanese government. "That is also another reason why we have just sent soldiers to that troubled region in Sudan," he said.
Following the disappearance of previously detained ship, MT African Pride, the Police Command has sent signals to all marine formations of the force, asking them to beef-up security in all areas of the nation's waters within their jurisdiction.
The Guardian learnt that the signal, dispatched early last week, came in the wake of some other surreptitious moves to tamper with other ships being held by the Nigerian Navy.
The Inspector-General (IG) of Police, Tafa Balogun, disclosed that the police had foiled moves by some people to release the detained ships.
Balogun made the disclosure while testifying at the on-going public hearing on the missing ship.
He said some staff of the Ministry of Justice in Enugu had issued a legal advice asking the police to release some accused persons held in connection with the ships, as well as the ships, but he objected to the advice and reported the matter to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The signal sent by the Police High Command expressly stated that they should make the jurisdiction of the police, and ensure that prompt reports of unusual movements are forwarded to the appropriate quarters.
It was further gathered that consequent upon the signal, the marine wing of the police has released all the patrol boats recently purchased for the police by the Federal Government. The areas affected by the signal include Lagos and the Niger Delta.
MT. African Pride was arrested in August last year and detained by the Navy but the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan, during his testimony at the public hearing, last Wednesday, claimed that the Navy handed over the ship and suspects to the police.
The police chief in his own testimony said only the suspects were handed over to the police and not the ships because the ships were on the high seas where the police have no access to them.
He also challenged the Naval authorities to produce evidence of the handing over since there was no way such a hand over could have taken place between the services without documentation.
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