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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Navy arrests eight officers over missing ship
EIGHT officers of the Nigerian Navy have been arrested over the mysterious disappearance of a vessel detained in 2003 over alleged illegal oil bunkering, MT. African Pride.
The officers include a Navy Captain (equivalent of a Colonel in the Army) and a Commanding Officer (CO). Also in custody are three Commanders (equivalent of Lieutenant-Colonel).
Two of the Commanders have been in custody since the disappearance of the ship in August.
The CO and the five others were arrested last week.
The House of Representatives Committee on Navy is currently probing the disappearance of the ship, while the Navy has begun an in-house investigation.
The officers, including others are appearing before the Board of Inquiry (BOI) set up by the Navy to find out whether there was a dereliction of duty by any of its operational command Administrative Authority (AA). The BOI, headed by the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC), Rear Admiral Sampson Usman Okee, is to find out whether any SOP (Standard Operational Procedure) was breached by any unit of the Navy or personnel.
Other members of the BOI include Commodore E.U. Ekwere and Captains H.O. Ngonadi, Medani, Manujibeja and Usman. They are to find out the role played by any of its personnel in reaching an understanding with the Police on the custody or security of the missing MT. African Pride without clearance from the Navy Headquarters.
Other issues to be unravelled by the BOI include the following:
The findings of the panel will determine if, when and how a General Court Martial will try any offending personnel or show that its personnel fully fulfilled its own side of the presidential mandate over the missing vessel.
MT. African Pride, one of "the largest vessels ever seized around the nation's territorial waters for illegal bunkering," was to be part of the exhibits to be tendered by the Federal Government in the prosecution of the crew of the merchant tanker.
It was arrested at about 6.45 p.m. on October 8, 2003 by the Nigerian Navy patrol craft, NNS NWAMBA at Forcados, Delta State, with about 1,500 dead weight (DWT) crude oil. That same day, the oil vessel was escorted from the largely oil loading terminal of Forcados to the Naval Base, Apapa, Lagos. It remained under the custody of the Navy until the presidential directive of January 29, 2004 when the Navy formally handed it over to the Nigeria Police.
President Obasanjo had at a meeting held on January 29 at State House, Abuja, given directives to stakeholders in the arrest, detention, handling and protection of the vessel. The meeting was attended by, among others, the Minister of Transport, Chief Sekibo, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan, Inspector-General (IG) of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The directives, as handed over by President Obasanjo, include:
The Navy, as the executing arm of the directives, wrote the Ministry of Transport, IG, Group Managing Director of NNPC of the decisions of the January 29 meeting. But the Navy is contending that all the other agencies except the Police responded in writing, acknowledging receipt and compliance.
Already, public investigations by the House of Representatives into the disappearance of MT. African Pride had resulted in the name-calling by Naval officers. Director of Naval Signals, Commodore Sunday Baje, had accused the Chief of Training and Operations, Navy Headquarters, Rear Admiral Francis Agbiti, of "lying" when he denied knowledge of a signal dated January 16 and February 5 advising the Navy's AA to still retain custody of the ships.
Baje had on February 11 written the FOC Western Naval Command informing him "that a decision was reached that NNPC, Ministry of Transport and the Police are to take over the vessel and contents at your location for further necessary actions. Furthermore, I am also to inform you that the Commanding Officers of the units concerned be properly briefed to assist and ensure a hitch-free exercise."
Agbiti had in his testimony stated: "Particularly regarding the signals of January 16, 2004 and February 5, 2004, please note that the letter to the FOCs' were written on February 11, 2004, which were clear, superior and should have been complied with. Furthermore, I did not know about the signals neither did I authorise them".
As at September 9, the NNPC, which is mandated by the President to evacuate petroleum products from the arrested vessels, still has not done so in six vessels and one barge. The vessels arrested by the Navy include MT. Glory, MT. Tina, MT. Zoogu, MT. Fortune, MT. Moat, MT. Mahdi and Barge Marine Service.
Another detained vessel, MT. Jimoh, which the House probe revealed to be also missing, was last Thursday discovered at Dutch Island, near Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by the Navy. At the time of its discovery, it had been re-named MT. Lort with three crew members but its crude oil holds empty.`
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