House Minority Caucus Demands Probe Into Norwegian Vessel With Stolen Crude

Minority Caucus in Nigeria’s House of Representatives has called for a probe into the circumstances leading to the arrest of a Norwegian vessel suspected to be carrying millions of litres of stolen Nigerian crude oil and recent reports of massive oil theft in the country.

House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu in a statement on Saturday said that it was alarming that a foreign vessel entered the country, loaded millions of litres of crude oil and exited without being noticed.

Elumelu claims that some corrupt government officials may have assisted in carrying out the act.

He wants President Muhammadu Buhari to halt what he described as “haemorrhaging of the national economy” through crude oil theft in the interest of Nigerians.

The statement says “The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives is alarmed by the massive oil theft in the country which has become an organised racket.”

The Minority Caucus is disturbed by reports of alleged complicity by certain corrupt government officials as evinced in the clandestine entrance and berthing of a three-million-barrel capacity supertanker, MV. Heroic Idun in Nigerian waters to criminally load millions of barrels of stolen crude oil from our country.

“Such reported complicity is also evidenced in the failure of the Nigerian authorities to effectively intercept and arrest the criminal tanker and its crew, which successfully left the Nigerian waters only to be apprehended by the Equatorial Guinea Navy.

“This shocking development underscores the massive sleaze in our nation’s oil and gas sector under the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, with consequential crippling effect on our overall national economy and social wellbeing.

The Nigerian Navy has however debunked allegations that the arrested vessel, MV Heroic Idun was loaded with three million barrels of stolen crude oil from the country.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday at the Naval Headquarters, Chief of Policy and Plans, Rear Admiral Saidu Garba, disclosed that while conducting routine monitoring of the maritime domain, on August 7, 2022, it was observed that a large crude oil carrier MV Heroic Idun entered the Nigerian maritime environment and headed for Akpo Field off Port Harcourt in Rivers State without any form of authorisation or clearance.

Rear Admiral Garba added that the act of defiance by the Captain of the vessel, necessitated the Nigerian Navy to invoke the collaboration of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea to arrest the vessel

The Navy clarified that the Ship which invaded the Akpo Oil Field without any form of authorisation or clearance, stormed out without lifting any crude oil when it sensed the presence of a Navy vessel, before it was apprehended at Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea.

The Navy added that the vessel spent only 12 hours in the Nigerian waters and barely 20 minutes at the Akpo Oil Field.