The Nigerian Navy said it has saved the country over N200 million being the value of stolen crude oil it recovered from two foreign vessels, which has scooped oil illegally from the country’s oil facility in the Niger Delta.
The outgoing Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Yakubu Wambai, who made the disclosure, said the deployment of ships for patrols during his tenure led to many arrests, notably among which was the arrest of MV TOKONI, which was ladened with over 500 thousand litres of stolen crude oil worth about N281,708,450.
Admiral Wambai, while handing over the reign of command to a new FOC, Rear Admiral Joseph Akpan, said apart from MV TOKONI, the command also arrested other vessels, including MT ALEXANDER J laden with 528.95MT of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and MT MV Platform Care 2 ladened with over 100 thousand litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).
The outgoing FOC said the navy also intercepted no fewer than 463 parcels and 100 parcels of cannabis sativa at Ibeju Lekki and Badagry, respectively, estimated valued at N1 billion.
He said: “The Command also participates in OP AWATSE, where successes were achieved, for instance several arrests were made, amongst which are the arrest of four tankers and number of vans loaded with illegal bunkers as well as suspects at the Oregun general area of Lagos State.
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“Also, stolen petroleum products being smuggled at the creek of Ojodu Berger in Lagos State were recovered. Others are the arrest of suspects conveying illegally bunked petroleum products in vehicles and the arrest of suspected pipeline vandals.
“Our troops also intercepted and arrested a tanker as well as suspects diverting 53,000 litres of PMS and illegally smuggled petroleum products at various petroleum stations. Albeit, the, hitherto, System 2B pipeline that was shut down for about 18 months is now open and pumping has commenced to Satellite Town, hence, OP AWATSE is achieving a core mandate.”
Admiral Wambai said the participation of the Western Naval Command troops in Operation AWATSE had assisted greatly in curtailing criminal activities in Lagos and environs, adding that conscious efforts were also being made to sustain the achievements recorded in this regard.
He said: “Additionally, the combined surveillance efforts of NAB OJO and MDA systems enhanced the command’s drive in sustaining presence at sea and making it difficult for criminals to have freedom of action at sea.
“Despite the limited number of capital ships under command, the command has continued to deliver on the mandate of the CNS within its AOR.
Pertinently, these efforts aided in curbing illegalities within WNC AOR as evidenced in drastic reduction of sea robbery, piracy or hijacking of vessels and other maritime crime.
“I can state that in the past 20 months, no attack took place in Nigerian waters. This achievement was acknowledged by the International Maritime Bureau in their report of March 3, 2022, which removed Nigeria from the list of nations of high piracy risks/robbery in international waters.”
Earlier, during a farewell dinner, Admiral Wambai urged the personnel of the command to support the incoming FOC, Rear Admiral Joseph Akpan, and also render unalloyed loyalty to Nigeria. He said the success he achieved would not have been possible without support from the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, adding that “we successfully keyed into the vision and mission of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral AZ Gambo, and worked in line with the Strategic Directive 05 – 2021, to ensure that our decisions and actions are in tandem with Nigerian Navy Pillars of Transformation.”
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26 dead, 59 missing as Israel hits Gaza, Lebanon in deadly strikes
Strikes by the Israel military killed dozens in Gaza on Sunday, the civil defence said, while also hitting a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut’s international airport.
Israel has been fighting on two fronts since September, intensifying attacks on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border clashes alongside its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A year after the Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attacks on its south, Israel vowed to stop the Islamist militants from regrouping in the north of the Palestinian territory, launching a major assault there.
In the latest violence in the besieged Palestinian territory, the civil defence agency said Israeli air raids killed at least 46 people.
The deadliest strike, in the middle of the night in Beit Lahia in the north, killed 26 people, including women and children, and left at least 59 others buried under the rubble, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Another strike killed 10 people in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where a separate strike on a house claimed the life of a woman, he said.
An Israeli drone strike killed five people in the southern city of Rafah, Bassal said, adding another strike killed three women and a child in the Nuseirat camp.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.
The majority of the dead are civilians, according to ministry figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.
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Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
On Israel’s second front in the north, AFPTV footage showed several strikes hit Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, shortly after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate.
Columns of smoke were seen rising over the capital’s southern suburbs, where Lebanon’s only international airport is located.
Further south, overnight Israeli air strikes and shelling hit the flashpoint town of Khiam, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported.
Following the bombardment, the Israeli army said about 20 projectiles were seen crossing from Lebanon into Israel, and that some of them were intercepted. Emergency services did not immediately report any casualties.
Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since September 23 and has since sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants in support of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
Its military on Saturday said Hezbollah had already “paid a big price”, but vowed to keep fighting until tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from the north can return home.
Israeli forces also shelled the southern area of Lebanon along the Litani River, the NNA said on Sunday.
The news agency had earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighbourhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel’s military said late Saturday it had hit Hezbollah sites in the area.
In Lebanon’s east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.
Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwestern Lebanese village of Chamaa.
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In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defence staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday.
“They weren’t involved with any (armed) party… they were just waiting to answer calls for help,” said Ali al-Zein, a relative of one of the dead.
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.
Israel announced the death of a soldier in southern Lebanon, bringing to 48 the number killed fighting Hezbollah.
A UN-backed assessment on November 9 warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, amid the increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid.
Israel has pushed back against a Human Rights Watch report this week alleging that its mass displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity”, as well as findings from a UN Special Committee pointing to warfare practices “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.
A foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as “completely false”, while the United States — Israel’s main military supplier — said accusations of genocide “are certainly unfounded”.
In Israel, police said they arrested three suspects after flares shot near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the central city of Caesarea, south of Haifa, while he was away.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday reiterated demands that the government reach a deal to free dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
The protest came a week after mediator Qatar suspended its role until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in truce and hostage-release talks.
Court stops NBC from imposing fines on broadcast stations
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to “stop using the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to impose fines, threaten to impose sanctions, harass and intimidate the broadcast stations and other independent media houses in the country.”
The court declared that “the NBC and its agents lack the legal power and authority to impose penalty unlawfully and unilaterally, including fines, suspension, withdrawal of license or any form of punishment whatsoever on independent media houses for promoting access to diverse information on issues of public importance.”
The suit followed the decision by the NBC in 2022 to impose a fine of N5 million each on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, NTA-Startimes Limited and TelcCom Satellite Limited, over their documentaries on terrorism in the country.
The NBC claimed that the documentaries “glorify the activities of bandits, undermine national security in Nigeria, and contravene the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.”
In his judgment, Justice Oweibo held that, “The issue of the locus standi of SERAP and CJID need to be resolved first being a threshold issue. It is trite that the Statement of Claim must disclose the Plaintiff’s interest sufficient to clothe him/her with the requisite capacity to sue.”
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Justice Oweibo also stated that, “SERAP and CJID have been vested with locus standi. Looking at the provisions of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 and particularly the preambles to the Rules, the general requirement of locus standi has been done away with. SERAP and CJID are not meddlesome interlopers.”
According to Justice Oweibo, “I have looked at the affidavit in support of the suit, which in this case stands in place of a Statement of Claim. Considering the core mandates of SERAP and CJID and the affidavit in support of their suit, it is to be seen that this is a public interest case.”
Justice Oweibo dismissed the objections raised by the NBC’s counsel and upheld SERAP’s and CJID’s arguments. Consequently, the court entered judgment in favour of SERAP and CJID and against the NBC.
Justice Oweibo’s judgment, dated 13 June, 2024, read in part: “This is an action alleging breach of the fundamental rights of SERAP and CJID to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom and fair hearing guaranteed under sections 22, 36 and 39 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
The court also granted the following reliefs:
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