ABUJA – Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital
Territory High Court sitting at Jabi, will tomorrow, rule on an application
challenging the continued detention of the Chief Executive Officer of Capital
Oil and Gas Ltd, Ifeanyi Ubah, by the Department of State Service, DSS.
Justice Halilu adjourned ruling on the application, on a day
the security agency, alleged that Ubah committed an economic sabotage
punishable by death.
It told the court that the detained oil mogul was illegally
divered about 84 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (commonly called
petrol), that was kept in his custody by the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC.
The DSS, in a counter-affidavit deposed by one of its
operatives, Mr. Safwan Bello, told the court that the PMS Ubah diverted was
valued at N11billion.
It stated that several effort by the NNPC to recover the PMS
it kept in Ubah’s tank farm failed as the applicant had converted it to his
personal use.
The agency maintained that Ubah’s action was capable of
causing artificial scarcity of the product thus plunging the country not only
into widespread scarcity of PMS but also in economic chaos.
According to the DSS, “The respondent (Ubah) was arrested on
reasonable suspicion of his involvement in the commission of crime.
“The respondent refused to return the PMS to NNPC after
repeated demands. The PMS is worth over N11bn. The action of the respondent is
affecting the distribution of petroleum products to the populace.
“The action of the respondent is sabotage of NNPC’s
activities as it relates to distribution of petroleum products. If not for the
urgent steps taken by the Federal Government, the action of the respondent
would have plunged the country into widespread scarcity with its attendant
effect on the economy”.
However, Ubah’s lawyer, Ifeoma Esom, has accused the DSS of
surreptitiously securing an order to detain her client.
Esom alleged that the agency suppressed material facts when
on May 10, it persuaded the court to allow it to hold Ubah in its custody for
14 days.
In an application anchored on section 298(2) of the Administration
of Criminal Justice Act 2015, Ubah, told the court that “Capital Oil and Gas
Ltd (COG) of which the respondent is the CEO has always been one of NNPC’s
largest Throughput providers and this is evidenced by Throughput agreements
entered into between NNPC subsidiaries and COG over the years.
“These Throughput agreements, in accordance with the norms
and practice in the industry worldwide, allow conversion and diversion of IT
products by the ‘Operator’ so long as the Operator is prepared to re-deliver the
products (in terms of the current contract) within 7 days of demand by the
products owner or to pay a penalty for non re-delivery.
“The penalty to re-deliver is expressly stated by the
Contract to be a mere breach of contract remediable by the payment of penalty
to the owner. The penalty is comprised of the cost of delivery of the products
to the Operator’s tank farm with interest at Nibor+1.
“There can therefore be no issue of crime in conversion or
diversion of products under a throughput contract (regardless of the ordinary
connotations of those words).”
She revealed that the DSS earlier arrested Ubah at his house
in Lagos on March 24 and kept him in its custody until April 14 when he was
temporarily and conditionally released after he had been coerced into making
payment of N2billion and executing various documents in favour of NNPC and
AMCON.
Esom told the court that when Ubah returnes to his home in
Lagos, in fear for his life and liberty should he renew his claims that he is
not indebted to either NNPC Retail Ltd or AMCON as he had maintained before his
incarceration, instructed his counsel to file an application for the
enforcement of his fundamental rights.
“Notwithstanding the pendency of the suit and the service of
the originating processes, the SSS again invited the Respondent to report to
its offices in respect of the same allegations made by the NNPC and AMCON which
is the subject matter of the suit.
“On the 5th of May 2017, the SSS arrested the respondent in
Lagos and moved him to their Abuja office”.
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
