The Nigeria Customs
Service, on Thursday, named Great James Oil and Gas Ltd as the importer of the
haul of 470 guns that was impounded at the Tin Can Island port last week, a
week after a consignment of 1,100 weapons belonging to the same firm was seized
at the same port.
The
Comptroller-General, Col Hameed Ali (rtd), said Great James Oil and Gas Ltd
used a vessel, AVS Arkas Africa, to ferry the weapons into Nigeria. The Customs
boss did not name the owners of the company. Investigation by Daily Trust on Sunday
revealed that Ayogu Cyril, Ayogu Kelvin and Ayogu Great James registered the
oil firm as its directors on July 20, 2011. The company was registered with RC
968675. The three directors used residential addresses in Kaura District of the
Federal Capital Territory and Bariga area in Lagos, respectively, to register
the business.
Cyril and Great
James gave the address of a residential apartment, Suite 4, 4th Avenue, Prince
and Princess Estate in Kaura District, Abuja while Kelvin gave the address of a
residential apartment at No. 25 Bariga Road. When our reporters visited the
address in Abuja yesterday, a guard informed them that the male occupant was at
home with his wife. But he declined their request to speak with his employer,
holding that his boss was not expecting any visitor. A vehicle was seen parked
in front of the building.
The guard, and another adult male, denied knowledge of the
said oil and gas firm or the occupant’s link to it. He later went in and
returned with a response, saying his boss was equally unaware of the said firm. Other people spoken
to in the area said they had no knowledge OF what the occupant was doing for a
living, and others doubted if he had a firm named Great James Oil and Gas Ltd.
“The owner is from the South-East, but his name is not James Ayogu or Cyril
Ayogu and it is strange the company you associate with him,” a resident of the
area said. At No 25, Bariga Road, in the Bariga Local Development Area of
Lagos State, given as the residence of Kelvin is a brown one-storey affair of
six three bedroom apartments. Checks by Daily Trust on Sunday showed the
building is mainly residential.
All but one of the
tenants were out when our correspondent visited there yesterday. A chat with
the only person, who wouldn’t give his name, said Kelvin actually lived there
but had packed out to his own house about two years ago. He said he didn’t know
the address of Kelvin’s present residence. On Thursday, the Customs CG said the
firm used the elbow plumbing plastic that it declared in the bill of lading to
deceive officials about the concealed weapons. He said the 470 weapons
were found after officers had subjected the 20-foot container No. CMAU189817/8
to 100 per cent examination.
A meeting was
scheduled Friday between Nigerian officials and their Turkish counterparts to
discuss the rise in arms shipment to Nigeria from Turkey. A total of 2,671 rifles, in four batches, were seized within
the last eight months, all coming from Turkey, according to the Nigeria Customs
Service. Hameed Ali said his agency and other security outfits were
investigating the reasons for the massive importation of arms into the
country. “We are yet to get to the bottom of the whole thing. Are these
arms meant for commercial purposes, or meant to be given to a group of
insurgents or agitators and kidnappers?” he said.
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