Akwa Ibom oil theft: The Federal High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced nine men to 10 years’ imprisonment each after convicting them of crude-oil theft in Akwa Ibom State.
Channels Television reported on September 15 that the defendants were prosecuted by the Department of State Services following their arrest in an intelligence-led Nigerian Navy operation on February 7, 2025. They were accused of siphoning crude oil from the ASABO-D wellhead in Ibeno Local Government Area.
EFCC Warns Lawyers Over Foreign-Currency Legal Fees
Delivering judgment, Justice Joy Ikpeme held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and imposed a 10-year custodial sentence on each of the nine defendants without an option of fine.
The judgment is notable for the severity of the punishment at a time when crude-oil theft remains both a criminal-justice and economic-security concern in the Niger Delta. Channels also reported that at least 21 other suspected oil thieves were at different stages of prosecution in Akwa Ibom.
READ MORE: Channels Television
