http://www.tribune.com.ng/11112009/news/news1.html
Navy uncovers plot to destabilise Nigeria


Adelowo Oladipo, Lagos - 11.11.2009

THE Nigerian Navy Command, on Tuesday, alerted that it had uncovered secret plans by some disgruntled individuals led by one Commodore Benson Edema to destabilise the country.

It said that the group had allegedly been recruiting and training some youths in weapon handling and military tactics, highlighting that some of them had been posing as naval personnel in Lagos and other parts of the country and wreaking havoc.

Their activities, according to the Director of Naval Information, Commodore David Nabaida, posed serious national threat to the peace of the country. According to him, no fewer than five persons, including a 70-year-old man, had been arrested for allegedly operating an illegal military camp.

Nabaida, while briefing defence correspondents at the Western Naval Command, Beecroft, Apapa, Lagos, said that the suspects, who were dressed in naval uniforms, fled when some naval personnel from NNS Beecroft, Apapa, raided one of their locations at No. 6, Force Road, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The navy spokesman said that the presidency was worried over the alleged criminal activities of the said Commodore Edema and his illegal merchant navy outfit.

He noted that, recently the Navy received an intelligence report about the existence of some people, who claimed to be operating as merchant navy and who had allegedly invaded the liaison office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation at No. 6, Force Road, Victoria Island and allegedly forcefully took over the place.

He stressed that the group, led by the so-called Commodore Edema, stormed the place sometime ago along with about 30 armed youths. “Based on the information and with disclaimers from the offices of the Federal Ministry of Transport, the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, officials of the Maritime Workers Union and (NIMASA), the navy swung into action and raided the place,” he said.

Though, according to him, the leader of the group escaped before the arrival of the naval personnel, some vital documents on the use of arms and ammunition, which Commodore Edema was alleged to have been using in training his boys, were said to have been recovered along with other items.

“The Navy High Command had been inundated with a series of complaints from members of the public, particularly in Lagos, by naval personnel. Based on those complaints, some people wearing naval uniforms have been arrested. From our investigations, we have discovered that those involved in the battering of innocent Nigerians were not, usually, naval personnel but fake merchant navy officers, recruited by Benson Edema. These sets of people are usually seen escorting vehicles at the border posts, extorting money from commercial bus drivers and committing all sorts of illegalities.

Members of the public who cannot differentiate genuine naval personnel and the fake are used to believing that they are soldiers. We are looking for Commodore Edema and will arrest him anywhere we find him,” he added.

Nabaida stated further that the so-called commodore was, indeed, a one-time sailor, who was said to have been trained and employed as a welder onboard MV Epa, during the days of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line and that his employment was terminated in 1994 and he was said to have been paid about N120,000 as retirement benefit .

Commodore Nabaida, however, stated that Edema’s former colleagues, under the umbrella of the Maritime Workers Union, had written a disclaimer, wondering when he was promoted to the rank of a commodore. He warned that, henceforth, anybody or group of persons wearing uniforms similar to that of the Nigerian Navy would be arrested, just as he advised parents to educate their children on the need to desist from joining any of these groups, as ignorance was never an excuse in the court of law.

“Those who want to become merchant navy members should seek to be admitted to either the School of Nautical College, Oron, or the School of Oceanography and Marine Research, Victoria Island, Lagos. These are the only recognised institutions in Nigeria,” he added.

It will be recalled that recently Commodore Edema allegedly conducted passing out parade for thousands of his boys trained at their Ogun State camp, adding that the illegal merchant navy boss had been arrested in the past for allegedly beating up officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) at Mile 2, for arresting one of his boys over traffic offence.

Similarly, the Naval authorities said they had information about the activities of some crew members on board cargo vessels who gave false alarm to cover up their criminal activities.

The Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, stated that recently a ship, MT Syabas, owned by a Greek, raised a false alarm that their vessel was under attack by some sea pirates.

Upon the receipt of the information, the Commanding Officer (CO), BEECROFT, Commodore Ozojiofor, directed a patrol boat to raise to the scene.

On arrival, the captain of the ship, a foreign national, alleged that some pirates had attacked their ship and had made away with about 50 tonnes of petroleum product.

“The boys pursued the so-called fleeing vessel and it eventually caught up with it, but surprisingly, the crew members revealed that they actually purchased the product from the crew for the sum of 30050 dollars. When the boys came back they discovered that the ship that raised the alarm had disappeared to the neighbouring Republic of Benin. We got across to the owner of the ship who at the time was in Greece,” he explained.

He advised ship owners to always properly screen their would-be crew members before they are employed because some of them were in the habit of selling their product and at the end, raise false alarm to justify the shortage they must have incurred.