Three arraigned for illegal oil bunkering

Three accused persons, Elder Christopher Andrew Isibor, Earth Petroleum Development Limited and David A.O Akhigbe have been arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and intent to defraud.

The trio were alleged to have conspired among themselves to hijack a vessel, MT Sollueshing, and used it to convey 1, 670, 00 metric tons of low pour fuel oil (LPFO) stolen from Nigeria and sold to a Ghanaian marketer, Auxesia Energy Limited.

The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act CAP M17, Laws of the Federation, 2004.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge.

However, the EFCC counsel, E.E. Iheanacho, asked the court to fix a trial date in view of the accused persons’ plea, but the defence counsel, Steven Oke, prayed the court to vary the bail condition as the 1st accused person, Elder Christopher Andrew Isibor, who had earlier been arraigned was unable to meet the requirement of N500 million bail bond.

Hence, Justice Ibrahim Buba granted bail to the accused persons in the sum of N50 million with two sureties that must be resident in Lagos. He added that the sureties are to have landed properties within the jurisdiction of the court.

He later adjourned the case to July 3, 2015 for further hearing.