Senator Ned Nwoko, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment, has raised concerns about the military‘s practice of destroying vessels apprehended for carrying illegal goods or stolen crude oil, suggesting it is an attempt to conceal evidence.
Speaking in Abuja, he emphasized that the destruction of potential evidence in these cases makes little sense, unless there is complicity and compromise among those responsible for preventing such crimes.
Senator Nwoko expressed his frustration with the apparent illogicality of the situation, stating, “What is the point? It does not make any sense. You know, if somebody is found in possession of stolen goods, do you say, oh, the way to deal with this is to destroy it? No. You take it from them, you document it, you preserve it, you charge the culprits. And then you produce that in evidence against them in court and then ultimately return that product to the owner.”
As a member of the Senate Committee on Upstream Petroleum, Senator Nwoko raised the possibility that the military’s actions may be driven by compromises within their ranks.
He explained, “Well, I think the military are complicit. You know the reason they do this, because some of them might have compromised. They have been bought over because to load this kind of commodity vessels – the crude – it takes weeks sometimes because of the size of the vessels, it takes time.”
He further suggested that multiple parties may be involved in crude oil theft, including oil companies, producing companies, NNPC officials, the police, and more.
Notably, Senator Nwoko observed a common pattern among personnel in joint task forces, where their rapid accumulation of wealth raises suspicions of complicity in these criminal activities.
