Chief Executive Officer of Capital Oil and Gas Ltd, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, on Tuesday told Justice Yusuf Haliru of an Abuja High Court at Jabi that the Department of State Service (DSS) – also known as State Security Services (SSS) fraudulently obtained an exparte order from the court to keep him in detention for no just cause.

Ubah through his lawyer Ifeoma Esom urged Justice Haliru to vacate the exparte order of 10th May, which the court made, granting the DSS’ request to detain him for 14 days.

Ubah posited that “the exparte order of this honourable court made on the 10th day of May 2017 was obtained upon suppression of material facts.”

In an application brought pursuant to Section 298(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, Ubah said: “Capital Oil and Gas Ltd (COG) of which the respondent is the CEO has always been one of NNPC’s largest Throughput providers and this is evidenced by Throughput agreements entered into between NNPC subsidiaries and COG over the years.

“These through-put agreements, in accordance with the norms and practice in the industry worldwide, allow conversion and diversion of IT products by the ‘Operator’ so long as the Operator is prepared to re-deliver the products (in terms of the current contract) within 7 days of demand by the products owner or to pay a penalty for non re-delivery.

“The penalty to re-deliver is expressly stated by the Contract to be a mere breach of contract remediable by the payment of penalty to the owner. The penalty is comprised of the cost of delivery of the products to the Operator’s tank farm with interest at Nibor+1.

“There can therefore be no issue of crime in conversion or diversion of products under a throughput contract (regardless of the ordinary connotations of those words).”

The SSS, based on a report made to it by the NNPC over the purely civil dispute arising out of the alleged indebtedness of COG to the NNPC, arrested Ubah from his house in Lagos on the 24th of March 2017 and kept him in its custody until 14th April 2017, when he was temporarily and conditionally released after he had been coerced into making payment of 2billion naira and executing various documents in favour of NNPC and AMCON.

However, Esom told the court that Ubah upon return to his home in Lagos, in fear for his life and liberty should he renew his claims that he is not indebted to either NNPC Retail Ltd or AMCON as he had maintained before his incarceration, instructed his counsel to file an application for the enforcement of his fundamental rights.

When the suit came up before the Lagos division of the Federal High Court on the 27th of April 2017, the court had granted him leave to serve the originating processes on the SSS outside Lagos whereupon the originating processes were served on them on the 28th of April 2017.

According to Esom, “Notwithstanding the pendency of the suit and the service of the originating processes, the SSS again invited the Respondent to report to its offices in respect of the same allegations made by the NNPC and AMCON which is the subject matter of the suit.

“On the 5th of May 2017, the SSS arrested the respondent (Ubah) in Lagos and moved him to their Abuja office, she revealed.”

Based on this development, Ubah’s lawyers filed a motion exparte on the 8th of May seeking, “an order directing the 4th and 5th respondents (DSS and Director General SSS respectively) to produce the respondent in court within 48 hours of the order of court to show cause why he should not be released unconditionally.”

On the 9th of May, the court made an order directing the SSS to produce Ubah in court before the 12th of May to show cause why he should not be released.

Esom stated that the enrolled order was served on the SSS at about 10am on the 10th of May.

According to her, “Immediately upon the service of the enrolled order, the SSS surreptitiously filed and obtained on the same day, a motion exparte before the court which sought for an order to allow it detain the respondent for 14 days.”

However, in their counter affidavit in opposition to Ubah’s application, the SSS urged Court to dismiss the motion.

But in a five-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Safwan Bello, an officer with the SSS, the Federal Government security agency stated that all the averments contained Ubah’s affidavit are not true.

The SSS claimed that Ubah was arrested on reasonable suspicion of his involvement in a crime, having converted (84million litres) of premium motor spirit belonging to the NNPC kept in the custody if his tank farm, to his personal use.

After listening to the submissions of counsel to parties in the suit, Justice Haliru fixed tomorrow, Thursday, May 26, 2017, for ruling on whether to order for Ubah’s release or otherwise.

Update news