The Department of State Service (DSS) has come out to boldly allege that the diversion of a whooping N11bn worth of petroleum products by Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, the Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Limited was capable of causing economic sabotage, which is punishable by death.
The agency accused Mr. Ubah of diverting the products. This was stated in a counter-affidavit and written submission filed by the DSS in opposition to an application by Ubah, asking an Abuja high court to set aside an order for his detention for 14 days.
The special police failed to produce him before the court on Tuesday when the case came up for hearing. Although no reason was given for his absence, which stalled the trial, the security agency is believed to be acting on the order of the Abuja court authorising it to detain Ubah in its custody for at least 14 days.
In a counter-affidavit and written submissions filed by the agency, it described Ubah’s alleged diversion of the petroleum products kept in his custody by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as “an economic sabotage punishable by death.”
It stated that Ubah shunned NNPC’s repeated demand for the product “in order to cause an artificial scarcity of the product.” It also said Ubah’s alleged crime is capable of causing great damage to the country. The counter-affidavit filed by Safwan Bello, a DSS detective, stated thus: “the respondent was arrested on reasonable suspicion of his involvement in the commission of crime. He converted PMS belonging to the NNPC kept in the custody of his tank farm to his personal use.”
The embattled Ubah is also in court with another government agency – AMCON for his huge indebtedness to the Corporation led by Mr. Ahmed Kuru as MD/CEO. It would be recalled that a Federal High Court, Lagos Division had on Wednesday April 13, 2016, granted interim injunction against Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited and Mr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah on the application of AMCON.
Justice MB Idris who granted the exparte order on the application of Mr. AB Mahmoud SAN, counsel to AMCON restrained Capital Oil and Gas and Mr. Ubah from dealing with any assets or funds of the company within the jurisdiction of the Court. The Court also made an order that froze all the bank accounts of the company then. AMCON purchased nearly N100billion debt of Capital Oil and Gas from several commercial banks and has been in protracted negotiations and court battles with Mr. Ubah, who is a major player in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
