A non -governmental organization, Centre for Truth, Justice and Fair Play (CTJFP) has called on the Federal Government and the Nigerian Police to exercise caution in the handling of the case of alleged subsidy scam, involving the Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Industries, Mr. Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah.

The group urged President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in what it described as plot to hijack the businesses of some Nigerians operating in the downstream petroleum industry, particularly from the eastern region.

Ubah and some top management of the company were detained by officials of the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) on alleged fraudulent diversion of petroleum product, forgery and economic sabotage. It is imperative to inform all that Ubah and his staff voluntarily went to SFU on the invitation of the Commissioner of Police.

But in a statement signed by the President of the CTJFP, Dr. Nathan Ochuko, the group noted with dismay, the manner in which the oil guru and his staff were detained and their hasty arraignment in court without proper investigation, thus eliciting concern that their travail may have other political undertones with the intent of bringing down an establishment that has contributed immensely to the economy of Nigeria, through employment creation.

They noted that “It is worthy of note that Capital Oil and Gas, one of the major players in the downstream petroleum sector, has very huge investments in the sector and providing direct and indirect jobs for over 5,000 Nigerians.

“The firm boosts of the biggest state-of-the-art storage depot, with a capacity to hold over 196 million litres of fuel. The depot has a 32 arms loading gantry with a 56 million daily load out capability that can take 1,600 trucks in a day.

“The company also has nine large barges and 12 tug boats and a deepwater jetty capable of docking four large sea vessels simultaneously. To ease the distribution of fuel to all nooks and cranny of the country, Capital Oil invested in the acquisition of 700 petroleum trucks and also constructed an ultra modern truck park with the capacity to house 1,100 trucks.

The truck park located along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway in Lagos, has also contributed in decongesting the heavy traffic created by trucks that queue and park along the expressway awaiting their turn to be served products at the depots.