A
Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday convicted and sentenced four men to a
prison term of 24 years for stealing petroleum products belonging to the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The
four convicts, who are to share the jail term equally, are Yama Abass, Adeleke
Adetoro, Olaniyi Tope and Beliya Abegunde.
The
men, who stole 33,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit valued at approximately
N3.2m, had been arraigned before Justice Okon Abang last year August along with
one Alabi Olayinka, an accountant in a petrol station in Lagos.
But
Abang, who convicted Abass, Adetoro, Tope and Abegunde on counts three and four
of the charge, discharged and acquitted Olayinka.
The
judge, who said the evidence before the court did not link Olayinka to the
crime, said Olayinka would have a good case against the police if he sued for
“unlawful arrest, detention and malicious prosecution.”
Pronouncing
the sentence, Abang refused the plea by the defence counsel to temper justice
with mercy, saying “nobody should commit an offence and expect the court to
show mercy.”
“They
have no sympathy for this country and the citizens. In spite of all the efforts
made by the Federal Government to protect the petroleum pipelines and make
petrol to get to everybody with ease, the convicts and their cohorts have made
consistent efforts to sabotage and frustrate the effort of the Federal
Government,” the judge said.
Describing
them as harbingers of evil, the judge said the convicts cannot not plant thorns
and expect to harvest flowers, adding that it was shameful that in spite being
blessed with petrol, Nigerian citizens were still suffering from scarcity on
account of the activities of vandals.
According
to the charge marked FHC/L/220c/2014, the four convicts with some suspects
still at large conspired and damaged oil pipelines and stole 33,000 litres of
PMS belonging to the NNPC on July 13 along Epe/Ikorodu road in Lagos.
They
were said to have been apprehended while selling the stolen products to filling
stations in the city.
The
offence, according to the prosecution contravened sections 390 and 516 of the
Criminal Code, Cap C38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Section 7
(a) and (b) of the Miscellaneous Offence Act, Cap M 17, Laws of the Federation
of Nigeria, 2004.
Abang,
in his judgment, ordered the petrol stations that bought the stolen products to
make restitution in the sum of N3.2m to the Federal Government within seven
days of the judgment.
The
court also ordered the sale of the tanker used in conveying the stolen product
by auction within 14 days of the judgment.
The
prosecution was ordered to pay the proceeds into the coffers of the Federal
Government.
A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday
convicted and sentenced four men to a prison term of 24 years for stealing
petroleum products belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The four convicts, who are to share the
jail term equally, are Yama Abass, Adeleke Adetoro, Olaniyi Tope and Beliya
Abegunde.
The men, who stole 33,000 litres of
Premium Motor Spirit valued at approximately N3.2m, had been arraigned before
Justice Okon Abang last year August along with one Alabi Olayinka, an
accountant in a petrol station in Lagos.
But Abang, who convicted Abass,
Adetoro, Tope and Abegunde on counts three and four of the charge, discharged
and acquitted Olayinka.
The judge, who said the evidence before
the court did not link Olayinka to the crime, said Olayinka would have a good
case against the police if he sued for “unlawful arrest, detention and malicious
prosecution.”
Pronouncing the sentence, Abang refused
the plea by the defence counsel to temper justice with mercy, saying “nobody
should commit an offence and expect the court to show mercy.”
“They have no sympathy for this country
and the citizens. In spite of all the efforts made by the Federal Government to
protect the petroleum pipelines and make petrol to get to everybody with ease,
the convicts and their cohorts have made consistent efforts to sabotage and
frustrate the effort of the Federal Government,” the judge said.
Describing them as harbingers of evil,
the judge said the convicts cannot not plant thorns and expect to harvest
flowers, adding that it was shameful that in spite being blessed with petrol,
Nigerian citizens were still suffering from scarcity on account of the
activities of vandals.
According to the charge marked
FHC/L/220c/2014, the four convicts with some suspects still at large conspired
and damaged oil pipelines and stole 33,000 litres of PMS belonging to the NNPC on
July 13 along Epe/Ikorodu road in Lagos.
They were said to have been apprehended
while selling the stolen products to filling stations in the city.
The offence, according to the
prosecution contravened sections 390 and 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap C38,
Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Section 7 (a) and (b) of the
Miscellaneous Offence Act, Cap M 17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Abang, in his judgment, ordered the
petrol stations that bought the stolen products to make restitution in the sum
of N3.2m to the Federal Government within seven days of the judgment.
The court also ordered the sale of the
tanker used in conveying the stolen product by auction within 14 days of the
judgment.
The prosecution was ordered to pay the
proceeds into the coffers of the Federal Government.
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