•Accusation baseless, firm replies
By Steve Agbota
A Dutch ship building company, has petitioned the Inspector -General of Police (IGP), Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, accusing NUE Offshore Resources, Lagos of allegedly robbing its ship anchored at the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) jetty in Warri, Delta State.
The petition, dated February 4, 2024, was submitted to the office of the IGP on February 5, 2024 on behalf of Damen Charter International Ltd by its Solicitors, Adepetun, Caxton-Martins, Agbor & Segun.
But NUE Offshore, through its counsel, ThankGod Nwugha, debunked the allegation, saying there is a pending matter before the Federal High Court.
A copy of the petition titled: “Report of a case of armed robbery against one Mr. Uyi Igbinigie and NUE Offshore Limited”, obtained by Daily Sun, stated that the alleged robbery incident took place on February 2, 2024.
Recounting the events that led to the alleged robbery incident, the petition stated that Damen, as owner of the Fast Crew Supplier 1605 Aluminium vessel named MV NUE Swift, had in 2019 entered into an agreement with NUE, represented by its MD Uyi Igbinigie, for the charter and hire-purchase of the vessel, but after taking delivery of the vessel from Damen, NUE, it was alleged, consistently failed to pay the monthly installments it was obligated to pay to Damen as purchase price of the vessel, despite several demands for payment by Damen.
“Consequently, Damen terminated the hire-purchase agreement and sought to repossess the vessel in accordance with the provisions of the agreement. NUE and Mr. Igbinigie, however, hid the vessel and frustrated Damen’s efforts to repossess it. Damen commenced a suit at the Federal High Court, Warri Division and obtained an order for the arrest of the vessel.
“The vessel was eventually traced and arrested with the assistance of the Nigerian Navy and in accordance with the order of Court, placed under the guard of the Nigerian Navy for safe keeping while under arrest. Damen subsequently discontinued the suit at the Federal High Court and secured the release of the vessel from arrest. Following the release of the vessel from arrest of court, Damen repossessed the vessel on 22 November 2023,” the petition stated.
According to the petition, after settling the costs and expenses incurred by the Nigerian Navy for safeguarding the vessel while under arrest, the Nigerian Navy handed the vessel over to the Admiralty Marshal of the Federal High Court, who in turn handed the vessel over to Damen on February 1, 2024.
Reacting to the allegation, Nwugha who spoke on behalf of NUE Offshore Limited and Uyi Igbinigie, debunked the allegation, saying there is a pending matter in court before Justice Aluko of Federal High Court.
“We filed that matter against Damien, the owner of the vessel. We brought a motion before the court asking the court to direct that the vessel should remain with us pending the examination of the suit, which the court granted. They were served with the order. They filed their responses and the matter is coming up on Tuesday this week,” he said.
He said the order was made on November 27, 2023. The chief security of the Navy were served who were in the custody of the vessel and the court asked them to comply with the order by handing the vessel to my client.
He said: “Instead of the Navy handing over the vessel to us, they went to hand it over to DCR Warri. The Marine Police arrested the vessel and handed it over to our client. As we speak, there is a notice of contempt that has been served to DCR Warri for not complying with the court order.”
However, Damen Charter International Ltd in its petition to IGP said: “Damen then shifted the vessel to the National Inland Waterways Authority’s (NIWA) Jetty in Warri and handed it over to the Delta Area Office of NIWA for safe keeping. At about 11.45pm, agents of NUE and Mr. Uyi Igbinigie arrived at the NIWA Jetty, Warri accompanied by about 15 armed men dressed in what appeared to be Nigerian Army uniforms in two Toyota Hilux trucks and one boat name ‘NUE Netty’, belonging to NUE.
“They forcefully dislodged the officers of the Marine Police stationed to guard the vessel, beat up the vessel’s civilian security personnel who had to jump off thegvgvgvgvgggvggvggv vessel’s rails and into the water to save his life. The men then used the boat they came in to tow the vessel to the NBTC Yard in Warri,” the petition stated.
The petitioners said in the morning of February 3, 2024, agents of NUE and Mr. Igbinigie were seen lifting the vessel, the name of which had been covered to prevent identification, with a crane in what appeared to be a move to remove it from the NBTC yard.
“This was captured on camera and we watched the video. Based on the foregoing, the office of the Inspector-General of Police was requested to exercise its constitutional duty by promptly investigating the crime to bring all parties responsible for the armed robbery to justice