Court convicts man, remands others for alleged illegal oil deal

The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Muhammed Ovosi to three months imprisonment for disguising the origin of N5 million to facilitate the export of one million barrels of petroleum products without lawful licence.

Justice Emeka Nwite, who handed down the judgment after Ovosi’s plea bargain agreement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), also ordered him to pay the sum of N500, 000 in line with the agreement terms.

The order followed an application by the EFCC’s lawyer, Martha Babatunde, praying the court to convict and sentence the defendant in view of his guilty plea and in line with the plea bargain agreement.

She said the plea bargain agreement was made pursuant to Section 270 of Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

Ovosi, the 5th defendant, pleaded guilty to count five preferred against only him from the seven-count charge filed by the commission against the six defendants in the case.

He was alleged to have fraudulently obtained the sum of N5 million paid by Mr Xu Ningqun to facilitate the export of one million barrels of petroleum products without licence.

The money was said to form part of the proceeds of unlawful activities and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition and Prevention Act.

From the total sum, N1, 770, 000 was allegedly traced to Ovosi and he agreed to restitute the said amount to the Federal Government’s coffers and applied for a plea bargain through his lawyer, Chidera Ngbe.

Justice Nwite, however, ordered the other defendants, who pleaded not guilty to the charge to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of their bail application.

The judge adjourned the matter until Sept. 15 for hearing of the bail application of the defendants.

The EFCC had, in the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/365/2025, named Fawei Noel Young, David Macaulay Ugbe, Umar Konto Muhammed Kaigama, Muhammed Ovosi and Fogmos Professions Ltd as 1st to 6th defendants respectively.

In count one, Young, Ugbe, Konto, Kaigama, Fogmos Professions Limited, Sentuo Oil Refinery Limited (at large), MT Terepaima (at large) and others at large were alleged to have, sometime in May in Abuja, conspired amongst themselves to deal in petroleum products without lawful authority.

The offence is said to be contrary to Section 21 of the Money Laundering Prohibition and Prevention Act and punishable under the same Act.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled:  Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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