Court Convicts Two To Three Years Imprisonment Over Illegal Petroleum Dealing

Justice L. N. Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos has convicted and sentenced two oil dealers to three years imprisonment.

The convicts, Paul Ovie and Frank Okuba, were arraigned alongside a vessel, M.V. Agbeke, by the Lagos Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) on Thursday, July 9, 2020, on three-count charges bordering on illegal dealing in petroleum products.

They were arrested by the Nigerian Navy and subsequently handed over to the Commission for investigation and prosecution.

One of the counts read “That you, Paul Ovie, Frank Okuba and M.V. Agbeke, on the 21st day of January, 2020 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, without appropriate license, dealt in 100 metric tonnes of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 4 of the Petroleum Act, Cap 10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.”

They pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against them.

In view of their pleas, prosecution counsel, Mohammed Idris, reviewed the facts of the matter and urged the court to convict the defendants accordingly.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Oweibo convicted and sentenced the defendants to one year imprisonment each on the three-count charge.

The sentences are to run concurrently from the day of their arrest and detention by the Nigerian Navy.

Troubles started for the convicts when they were arrested by the NAVY for dealing in petroleum products without a requisite license. They were prosecuted and consequently convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment.