Two serial pipeline vandals, Yemi Oluwalogbon and Iskilu Sodipo, were on Friday sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Federal High Court, Ibadan for stealing 60 kegs of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
Justice P.I. Ajoku said that she convicted and sentenced Oluwalogbon and Sodipo based on the evidence before her and the plea of guilt which they entered.
“This judgment is in consideration of the fact that the convicts pleaded guilty to the three-count charge instituted against them, as well as the prayer of their counsel.
“I have also considered the fact that the convicts are young and could still be positively useful to the Nigerian society.
“It is my belief that they are now remorseful of their action. However, each of the two convicts is sentenced to two years in prison for each of the offences.
“The sentences are, however, to run concurrently. The sentences start from the date they were first arrested by the police.
“The exhibits found in their possession are forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” the Judge said.
Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Mr Kingsley Ngere, informed the court that the duo was facing a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, destruction and stealing of petroleum products of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Ngere added that the duo committed the crime on Nov. 26, 2018 at Onigari, along Lagos-Ibadan express road.
According to the prosecutor, the convicts along with Idowu Oparinde and Afeez Yamo, who are still at large, were apprehended with a bus loaded with 60 kegs filled with PMS.
The prosecutor also said that each of the kegs contained 25 litres of PMS and two other 50 empty kegs were found in the bus.
During interrogation, the convicts also confessed that two weeks before they were eventually arrested, they siphoned six fully loaded buses of PMS from the same site.
Ngere told the court that the law prescribed a maximum of life imprisonment for anyone convicted of pipeline vandalism.
