Four held for illegal oil deal

Arraignment of Crude Oil Suspects in Lafia, Yusuf   Mohammed, Abbas Auwal, Olunipekun Olagoke 3

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 arraigned four suspected members of an oil syndicate before Justice A. A Okeke of the Federal High Court sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State.

The suspects: Olusegun Gbenga, Yusuf Muhammed, Abass Auwal and Olanipekun Olagoke, were docked on a 12-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery and unlawful dealing in crude oil.

One of the charge reads: “That you Olusegun Gbenga, Yusuf Muhammed, Abass Auwal and Olanipekun Olagoke on the 12^th day of May, 2014 at Toto Military check point in Nasarawa State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court did conspire amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit: did without lawful authority or an appropriate license deal in crude oil and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 3( 6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act CAP M17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

Another count reads: “That you Olusegun Gbenga, Yusuf Muhammed, Abass Auwal and Olanipekun Olagoke on the 12^th day of May, 2014 within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court forged a document to wit; Conoil Invoice No 32182 dated 9^th April, 2014 and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1 (2) (c) and punishable under section 1 (2) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act CAP M17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In view of their pleas, the prosecuting counsel, Salisu A. Majidadi, prayed the court to fix a date for hearing and to remand the accused in prison custody.

However, Daniel Mushei, counsel to the second and third accused persons, told the court that he had a pending application for bail and prayed the court to admit his clients to bail.

In response, Majidadi said he was served with the application only in court and pleaded for time to formally respond.

Justice Okeke ordered the suspects to be remanded in Lafia prison and adjourned the case to March 23, 24 and 25, 2015 for hearing.