Court sentences oil thief to 10 years imprisonment

An oil thief, Abednego Ogede, who was convicted in absentia by Justice Rilwan Aikawa of a Federal High Court, Lagos, on December 18, 2019, was yesterday sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Aikawa had on December 18, 2019 pronounced the convict, alongside a vessel MV Shirley and a company Sagwe International Limited, guilty of all the […]

An oil thief, Abednego Ogede, who was convicted in absentia by Justice Rilwan Aikawa of a Federal High Court, Lagos, on December 18, 2019, was yesterday sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Aikawa had on December 18, 2019 pronounced the convict, alongside a vessel MV Shirley and a company Sagwe International Limited, guilty of all the four- count charge bordering on conspiracy and illegal dealing in 145,000 metric tonnes of automated gasoline oil (AGO), which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought against them.

Upon declaring the convict guilty of the charge on December 18, the prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, had urged the court to forfeit the vessel and the company charged alongside the convict to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Oyedepo also pleaded with the court to empower security agencies to arrest the convict and bring him to court for the purpose of sentencing him.

In court yesterday, the prosecutor said Ogede had been arrested after he was smoked out of his hideout by the police and urged the court to sentence him according to Section 1(17) of the Miscellaneous Act.

Responding to the prosecutor’s request, the convict’s counsel, Mr A. Joseph, pleaded with the court to consider Section 312 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015), in sentencing his client.

Joseph pleaded with the court not to take the disappearance of his client into consideration in pronouncing judgment, saying he did it out of fear.

“In line with Section 321 of ACJA, I urge the court to temper justice with mercy. He has erred by running away and that is a product of fear. I urge the court to consider that he’s a father with children who depend on him for survival. If it is possible to convert the prison term to fine, we’ll be grateful,” the lawyer pleaded.

But responding, Oyedepo told the court that Section 1(17) of the Miscellaneous Act pronounces life imprisonment for anyone that unlawfully deals in petroleum products and does not empower the court to impose fine in lieu of the imprisonment.

He, therefore, urged the court to impose prison terms on the convict, saying such a judgment would convey a strong message and warning to those that still engage in such an act.

Justice Aikawa, after listening to both the prosecutor and convict’s counsel, held, “I’ve listened to the plea of the convict’s counsel and also to the submission of the prosecutor.

“It is a serious offence for someone to deal in petroleum products unlawfully. Consequently, the convict is hereby sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in counts one, two, three and four. The jail terms shall run concurrently and are effective from today”.

The EFCC had arraigned the vessel MV Shirley, the company Sagwe International Limited and the convict Abednego Ogede, before the court sometime in 2017, on a four- count charge of conspiracy and unlawful dealing in 450,000 metric tonnes of a petroleum product.

The EFCC through its prosecutor, Oyedepo, had told the court that the trio had committed the offences on April 19, 2017 in Lagos.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail in the sum of N10 million, with two sureties in like sum.

During the pendency of the charge, the prosecution had called two witnesses – an operative of the agency and an official of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) -who gave evidence on how the convict was arrested as well tendered documentary evidence, which was admitted by the court.