Seven oil thieves jailed for 12 years


Seven men were yesterday sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by the Federal High Court in Lagos for stealing petroleum products.
Justice Okon Abang found Adedamola Ogungbayi, Olaniran Olabode, Suraju Gasali, Moses Emmanuel, Wilson Bonsi, Okaraodi Uche and Onyeogo Happy guilty of dealing in 1,459 metric tonnes of premium motor spirit (petrol) without licence.
The judge held that the convicts’ crime amounted to economic sabotage. He described them as “godless”, saying such acts must be punished.
He said: “The convicts have no sympathy for the corporate existence of this country. The seed of wrongdoing may be sown in secret but the harvest cannot be concealed. Today is the day of reckoning.
“You call it oil bunkering or pipeline vandalism, but this menace has reached an alarming proportion in this country. Enough is enough.
“The convicts are godless and lawless, without any particle of sympathy for this country. They are part of the people that have contributed to the economic woes of this country.
“The convicts planted thorns, they cannot expect to gather flowers; they sowed the wind, and they must gather whirlwind.”
The judge also ordered that the vessel, MT Good Success, used in committing the crime, as well as the recovered petroleum product be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Justice Abang ordered the forfeiture of the sums of N66.6 million and $975,000 (about N194m) belonging to the convicts’ company, Hepa Global Energy Limited, domiciled with the First City Monument Bank.


For the full story, check The Nation newspaper.






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