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Navy offered N14m bribe
over missing vessel, alleges ex-Naval officer
By Uchenna Awom
National
Assembly
Correspondent, Abuja
More revelations were made on
Thursday at the House of Representatives hearing on the circumstances
surrounding the missing oil vessel �MV African Pride� as a former Flag
Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Bob Manuel, alleged
that one Ishola offered $100,000 (N14 million) bribe to secure her
release.
In another twist, Naval
counsel Amaobi Nzelu told the House Navy Committee investigating the
matter that one Tolu Jinadu was arrested and detained for one month for
not forwarding N5 million to Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tafa
Balogun to secure the release of another missing ship, �MV
Jimoh�.
Bob Manuel said no ship was
handed over to the police before and after the �African Pride� and that
some persons, led by Ishola, came to his office offering first $15,000
through a text message and on October 16, the same man raised it to
$100,000.
He stated that at this point,
he contacted his subordinates, Capt. Dakosta and Commander Ikoli, and
warned them to �beware of these people�, because the text message also
bore the name of the chief of Naval staff.
Curiously, he added that a
former minister pleaded with him to accede to the overtures from Ishola to
get the ship released, �but sensing danger, I called the chief of Naval
staff and warned him to be on the look out�, that some people were
dropping his name and as such he needed to be careful.
�I was under pressure from
without, offers were made from some characters for the release of the
detained ship�.
According to Bob Manuel,
�African Pride� was still in the possession of the Navy when he handed
over to his successor on July 5.
He said it was not easy to
keep the ship in the custody of the police, adding that the police
presented themselves as willing to take her over, but later developed cold
feet �because they never liked what they saw of the ship when they were
taken there�.
He denied claims by Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director Funsho
Kupolukun that the crude evacuated from the ship was contaminated. He said
from the result of the analysis done on the crude by Shell in Warri, the
crude was not contaminated.
�My report was clear and the
cargo was just pure crude. I was not obliged to inform the NNPC on the
state of the crude. The analysis was done for the purposes of helping the
police investigation�.
In his own testimony, Nzelu
said Jinadu was sent by one Isa, owner of �MV Jimoh�, to give Balogun N5
million to secure the release of the ship which, according to him, has
been cited in Port Harcourt bearing another name.
�If the IGP is claiming that
he never took custody of the arrested ship, how come he allegedly demanded
N5 million bribe to effect the release of the ship?�, he asked.
Also at the hearing, two Naval
officers disagreed on who gave the signals that stalled the hand over of
�African Pride� to the police.
Rear Admiral Francis Eche
Agbiti, Chief of Training and Operation of Naval Headquarters, denied
issuing such signals. But contradicting him, Director of Naval Signals,
Commodore Sunday Lawal Baje, told the panel that Agbiti was far from the
truth, as no signal goes out without his approval.
Defence Minister Rabiu
Kwankwaso, who testified last, admitted that he requested for the release
of one of the detained Russian crew members of �African Pride�, Mr.
Kosorov, on health grounds, based on a letter from the Russian embassy,
and on approval by Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Presidency.
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