Nigerian sailor missing in Ghana

According to a source at the Tema Harbour, where the ship was apprehended, Olaniawo was whisked away by officials of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) at the weekend and is being held incommunicado. His crew and friends have neither seen him nor been able to reach him on his cell phone since last Thursday, […]

According to a source at the Tema Harbour, where the ship was apprehended, Olaniawo was whisked away by officials of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) at the weekend and is being held incommunicado. His crew and friends have neither seen him nor been able to reach him on his cell phone since last Thursday, when he was last seen in company of plain clothe Ghanaian security personnel, it was gathered.
The captain was arrested together with his 13-member crew (All Nigerians) aboard a Ghanaian owned ship, MT Mustard at the Tema Harbour, sometime in August on suspicion of illegally transporting High Pour Fuel oil (HPFO) to Offshore Saltpond Terminal Takoradi. The vessel’s take off point was Tema Harbour.
The consignment was obtained from a vessel MT Aka 1 suspected to be carrying pirated crude from Gabon territorial waters. The crude on MT Aka 1 was alleged to have been hijacked by pirates on the Gabon side of the Gulf of Eden. The vessel eventually berthed at 60 Nautical miles offshore Tema. The Ship To Ship (STS) operation with MT Mustard was carried out on 2oth July, 2013.
Upon its return to Tema Anchorage after the STS operation, MT Mustard was arrested by the Ghanaian Navy with its crew for dealing illegally on crude oil.
However on the face of the documents made available to Daily Trust it appears MT Mustard was carrying out a legitimate assignment. It contracted by another Ghanaian company, Kare and Kare Limited, an Accra based company for the operation.
The contract document between the ship owner, Omaroil Agency limited, Tema and Kare and Kare limited entered into on 19th July, 2013, which spelt out the terms and conditions of the contract assigned the ship, “To provide a vessel to convey 3,000/MT of High Pour Fuel Oil (HPFO) from Tema off-shore to discharge inside Lome Port”.
Paragraph 12 of the 16-paragraph document further stated, “DELIVER/REDELIVERY of Vessel at outside bar Tema, on acknowledgement of Notice of Readiness (NOR). Vessel to be redelivered outside bar Tema on completion of discharge”.  The agreement was signed by Messrs.’ Suleiman Umar and Richard King Atipko for Omaroil Agency Ltd and Kare and Kare Ltd respectively.
Captain Olaniawo Incident Report dated 22nd July, 2013 that gave an account of what transpired stated that MT Mustard sailed from Tema Anchorage on the 19th of July, after receiving orders from the owners Messr Omaroil Agency Ltd to proceed to 60 Nautical Miles offshore Tema for a Ship T Ship (STS) operation with Motor Tanker AKA 1. At about 0145 hours of 20th July, the ship arrived STS location (Lat. 95o 2.58N, long. 000o 43.07E). Communication was opened with the mother vessel MT AKA 1 on channel 08 VHF Radio. But they had to discharge water from their cargo so the operation could not commence until six hours later. At about 1410 20th July, MT Mustard was alongside MT AKA 1 with all ropes made fast and cargo hoses connected.
The Captain of MT AKA 1 turned down his request to send the Surveyor from MT Mustard to AKA 1 for inspection and an argument ensued between them.  But 15 minutes later, the cargo representative on MT Mustard ordered him to go ahead with the operation and he obeyed. According to Captain Olaniawo’s account, a crew of MT Mustard discovered the original name of the vessel (MT Cotton) written on a life raft. A source close to the detained seaman said Olaniawo later alerted the Ghanaian authority a day later about his misgivings and findings about MT AKA 1.
To his chagrin he and his crew were arrested for piracy while the owner of the ship Suleiman Umar was left off the hook. Captain Olaniawo was employed on the 14th of April, 2013 as captain on board MT Mustard by ship owner, Omaroil Agency Ltd. His contract duration was for six months.