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Nigeria's secret police nabs businessman over economic sabotage

Xinhua, May 6, 2017 Adjust font size:

Nigeria's secret police Saturday said Ifeanyi Ubah, the owner of Capital Oil, has been arrested over an acts of economic sabotage.

Spokesperson for the Department of State Security Tony Opuiyo said in a statement made available to Xinhua in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, that the businessman and politician was arrested on Friday in connection with the theft of petrol kept by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in his tank farm in Lagos.

The product was valued at over 11 billion naira (about 34 million U.S. dollars).

Ubah's action amounted to economic sabotage, with "capacity to negatively impact on national economy," Opuiyo added, noting that the businessman has further engaged in other activities inimical to national security and public order.

The DSS spokesperson said Ubah incited members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), a critical player in the downstream sub-sector of the Petroleum Industry, to refuse or stop the lifting of products in furtherance of his gimmicks to undermine the country.

Nigeria's state run oil giant had on March 17 revealed that about 100 million liters stored at the Capital Oil & Gas depot and over 30 million liters in MRS Limited depot, all in Apapa area of Lagos, were not found when needed.

Ubah has described the allegation of theft against his company as mischievous and misleading. He said the NNPC also failed to tell the public that it also owed Capital Oil billions of Naira from their mutual business transactions. Endit