Why We Arrested Ifeanyi Ubah – DSS
The Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, Ifeanyi Ubah, has been arrested and detained by the Department of State Security over his refusal to remit N11 billion of realised from the sales of petroleum products stored in his facility by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Beyond that, Ubah, who was arrested Friday, is accused of engaging in acts inimical to national security by the security agency.
A statement by the spokesman for the DSS, Tony Opuiyo, yesterday, also accused Ubah of inciting members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union to stop lifting petroleum products so as to cripple the economy and cause untold hardship to Nigerians.
The statement said, “In line with the statutory mandate of the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate economic crimes of national security dimension, the Service, on 5th May, 2017, arrested Ifeanyi Ubah, Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Limited. “The arrest was sequel to Ubah’s engagement in acts of economic sabotage which include stealing, diversion and illegal sale of petroleum products stored in his tank farm by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
So far, it has been established that the products stolen amount to over Eleven Billion Naira (N11bn). There is no doubt that Ubah’s acts have the capacity to negatively impact on national economy”.
Meanwhile, a senior official close to Ubah, said the DSS was simply not telling the world the whole truth, adding that the matter for which the oil merchant was arrested could have been easily resolved between him and the NNPC.
The official, who did not want to be named, pointed out that it was improper to accuse Ubah of stealing and diverting petroleum products stored by the NNPC in his depots since there were records of how such products were sold and accounts kept.
“Now, even if the NNPC says the money has not been paid by Ubah’s company, that does not amount to stealing and diversion as claimed by the DSS,” the official said.
