The detention of Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah by the DSS has taken another dimension as a Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday 9th May, 2017 ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to bring the detained Chief Executive Officer of Capital Oil and Gas to court on Friday May 12, 2017.
The order followed an ex-parte application filed by his counsel, Mrs. Ifeoma Esom, that her client had been in detention since May 6, 2017.
She urged the trial judge, Mohammed Idris to order the DSS to release him to prevent him from being forced to accept unfavourable conditions to gain his freedom.
Supported with an affidavit by the Secretary of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, George Oranuba, the deponent claimed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) arrested Ubah on account of allegations.
Oranuba said the issue had become a subject of litigation, adding that despite the subsisting suit, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the DSS invited Ubah for questioning. According to him, Ubah had earlier been detained from March 24 to April 14, 2017.
The DSS had claimed that it arrested and detained Ubah for what it termed an act of sabotage, involving an alleged diversion of petroleum products worth about N11bn.
However, the management of Capital Oil and Gas Limited has issued a statement stating the company’s position.
“For the avoidance of doubt and to put the records straight, NNPC owes Capital Oil & Gas Industries Limited over N16 billion represented as follows: $5,540,000 (N2.2billion) – unpaid berthing fees for NNPC vessels that called at our Jetty. $2,952,555 (N1billion) – invoice for chartered vessels to carryout STS operations Lagos offshore to ferry product (PMS) to storage at the request of NNPC since 2015. N1.170billion – amount owed to Capital Oil & Gas Industries Limited for throughput services from March to October 2016. N3.146billion – payment made to NNPC for 26,820million litres of PMS vide Pro-forma Invoice No. 53598 which is yet to be delivered to us. N2.0billion – Payment to NNPC in April to facilitate the release of the Managing Director and engender reconciliation which NNPC reneged on. N6.266billion – N0.80k and N0.40 Jetty Throughput charge on over 7 billion liters dispensed for NNPC by us.”