Oil Theft Suspects Refuse Extradition, Sue FG

The crew of the crude oil tanker MT Heroic IDUN has petitioned an Abuja-based Federal High Court to prevent the Federal Government from "illegally" transporting the ship from Equatorial Guinea to Nigeria.

The vessel, which has a lifting capacity of about three million barrels of crude oil, was spotted on August 7 near Total Energies Safe Anchorage, run by Akpo Field. However, the vessel managed to flee from Nigerian authorities and was eventually apprehended in Equatorial Guinea.

At the time, there were rumours that the ship had taken crude oil from the oil field.

The Nigerian Navy Ship Gongola approached the vessel at the oilfield terminal, preventing it from loading before it arrived at Akpo Field at midnight on August 7, 2022, with the clear aim of lifting crude oil within the field.

According to a source, following two months of diplomatic negotiations, Equatorial Guinea consented to turn over the vessel to Nigeria on November 6 for additional examination.

According to the plaintiffs, any claimed effort to persuade Equatorial Guinea to extradite them to Nigeria would be unlawful and in violation of their rights under both Nigerian and international law because there is no extradition treaty between the two nations.

The team pleaded with the court to become involved through their principal attorney, Babajide Koku (SAN).

They debunked the Nigerian Navy's assertion that MT Heroic IDUN tried to forcibly load crude oil from Nigeria's Akpo Terminal, pointing out in particular that the Navy acknowledged in a statement on August 19, 2022, that it had not discovered any crude oil on MT Heroic IDUN.

Additionally, they stated that the crew and ship were forcibly detained by the Equatorial Guinean Navy after being coerced by the Nigerian Navy.

The MT Heroic IDUN, with 26 people aboard, including 16 Indians, 8 Sri Lankans, 1 Polish, and 1 Filipino, was apprehended by the Equatorial Guinea Navy on August 22, 2022, not long after the ship had departed Nigerian seas.

The 26 applicants and the vessel filed a fundamental rights enforcement lawsuit with the case number FHC/ABJ/C8/2058/2022 because of concern that they might be forcibly removed from Equatorial Guinea to Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian Navy.

The respondents are the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the federation's attorney general, and the Nigerian Navy.

Charterers of the vessel requested a Letter of Comfort from the owners on July 18, 2022, for loading at Akpo Terminal in Nigeria (Terminal), with laycan (dates for loading) of August 17 and 18. The petitioners stated this in an affidavit in support of the original application.

“On August 4, 2022, the charterers and sub-charterers instructed the vessel to proceed to the terminal and, following that, to Ceiba Marine Terminal to load a cargo of crude oil and then to Rotterdam in Holland to discharge the cargo. The lay date was then set or narrowed to August 8, 2022.”

They further claimed that the sub-charterers, BP, probably neglected to notify the terminal of this change and/or to make sure the proper documentation was in order.

While acknowledging that the Nigerian Navy had asked them to follow it to the Bonny Fairway buoy for an investigation at around 9 p.m., MT Heroic IDUN claimed that it had declined because its master thought it would be too risky to move close to the Nigerian shore at night due to piracy worries.

“There was also confusion over the name of the Nigerian vessel, which at that time was misspelt “Agola” and could not be found on Google as a registered naval vessel,” they added.

The claimants further alleged that Equatorial Guinea's interdiction was illegal and violated Articles 58, 87, 97, and 100 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which deal with an innocent passage and the right to be on the high seas without interference.

Rear Admiral Saidu Garba, the chief of policy and plans for the Nigerian Navy, said: “The brazen act of defiance to constituted authority by the captain of the vessel necessitated the Nigerian Navy to invoke the collaboration of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea through the Yaoundé Architecture to arrest the vessel as we noticed that it stopped making a way in the Equatorial Guinea waters.”