Allegation of theft is mounting against the husband of Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum, Rear Admiral Allison Madueke. So bad is the situation that the company, Radam Maritime Services Limited is being threatened with court action. Radam, a maritime haulage firm that is also into oil field services is allegedly fingered for the theft of MT Sir Michael vessel, which is owned by Tubbs Marine and Energy Ltd. National WAVES gathered that Femi Otedola’s company, Sea Force used to be the owner of MT Sir Michael but sold it sometime ago. According to our findings, after one of its numerous trips, Tubbs Marine & Energy Limited berthed the vessel at Lagos, but its owners were astonished to discover that the vessel and the crew on board developed wings on Monday 21, 2011. The two jumbo size fenders, which were owned by another company and used to safeguard the vessel, were also gone. Sources hinted National WAVES that the search for MT Sir Michael was carried out by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Police, Interpol and other relevant agencies. The search it was learnt started from Lagos where Tubbs Marine’s operation officer, Mr Adeleye Ajibola and the police went to various creeks in Lagos beaches as well as eastern part of the country. They allegedly went as far as the neigbouring countries, Cameroun and Benin Republic but were unlucky. The search team allegedly visited Ghana on November 23, 2011 but did not find the vessel. Luck however smiled on them three days later when Mr. Chinedu, a staff of Tubbs Marine who was on board when the vessel was stolen and was dropped off into a fishing boat found his way to Accra, Ghana, and later Nigeria. National WAVES gathered that Chinedu’s narration was the lead to the recovery of the stolen vessel. The search party was said to have returned to Ghana on November 28 2011. They first went to Tema and combed the fishing port but were unlucky. They also went to Sekondi and their journey was said to be in vain. Luck smiled on the search team when they returned to Tema and MT Sir Michael was found at a beach at Okpone, a small community outside Tema and was not allegedly met in good state. National WAVES learnt that it had been tampered with. The fenders were allegedly off, and attempts were made to change the name across the vessel from MT Sir Michael to MT Navigator. The alleged thieves’ albatross was the MT Sir Michael’s International Maritime Organisation number given to vessel immediately it is built, the IMO is peculiar to each vessel and it is well etched on it that it cannot be removed. It was the number that gave them away. The suspects who were arrested by Interpol in connection to the theft of the vessel in Ghana confessed that a Nigerian company sold the vessel to them, and that it was brought to Ghana by MT Regina, a tow boat, which is owned by Radam Marine Services Limited, in which the husband of the Minister of Petroleum, Rear Admiral Allison Madueke has interest. National WAVES wrote a letter dated April 26, 2013 to the Madukes through the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Allison Madueke, neither the Minister nor her husband responded, as they elected to call our bluff.
