SDS Company Executive Seized From Court Premises, Wrongfully Detained

Reporters has learned that Ukpai I. Ukpai, a co-founder and Managing Director of Smart Drilling Services (SDS), was harassed and “stuffed commando style into a car” after he came out of a court hearing in Port Harcourt on Monday, according to witnesses who spoke to our correspondent. Mr. Ukpai, who appeared in court for the hearing of his lawsuit against his erstwhile SDS partners challenging their purported termination of his appointment with a company he co-founded, was in the company of his lawyer when he was ambushed outside the court premises and driven to a police station in Port Harcourt.
 
Bart Nwibe
SaharaReporters had written two earlier reports detailing how Mr. Ukpai was forced out of SDS after he raised objections to illicit corporate moves by Bart Nwibe, the firm’s chairman and co-founder, and some of the chairman’s cohorts. Our first investigative report, titled “Bart Nwibe, Other Directors Of SDS Accused Of Plotting To Push Out Founding MD,” was published on April 22nd, 2015 while the second, “Corporate Hijack Of Port Harcourt Based Firm Headed For Court,” was published on May 22nd, 2015.
Our earlier reports revealed that the conspiracy to sideline Mr. Ukpai from SDS began in 2013, shortly after the company’s revenue profile began to rise. The firm’s revenue growth was spurred by third-party contracts with Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation), Conoil, and Orient Petroleum. As the MD of SDS, Mr. Ukpai had in 2013 written an email warning Mr. Nwibe and two other board members, Ben-Chika Uzoagu and Uche Ejiogu, that their dealings with a third-party contractor constituted a conflict of office.
In 2014, the sidelined MD again opposed a scheme by Mr. Nwibe and three other directors to use OILER Limited, a company they owned, to buy and supply drop gyro and running gears to SDS. Mr. Ukpai insisted that the directors’ action was illegal, explaining that it amounted to taking undue advantage of their positions. SDS was then expecting a survey contract with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC), with an expected invoice of over one million dollars.
Despite Mr. Ukpai’s warning that the directors’ scheme violated corporate practices and Nigerian laws, the majority of directors backed the chairman, forcing the MD to settle for negotiating a reasonable rate for the loan with dubious interest rates and terms forced on SDS by the Nwibe-led board. OILER Ltd, which is owned by Mr. Nwibe and several other directors, supplied the gyro to SDS.
Last Monday, November 30, the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt began hearing Mr. Ukpai’s lawsuit against Mr. Nwibe, Mr. Ejiogu, Mr. Uzoagu, and other respondents. The presiding judge adjourned the case to December 7th, 2015 following a preliminary objection raised by one of the defense lawyers.
According to witnesses, several men who claimed to be police officers attached to the Rivers State Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Port Harcourt accosted Mr. Ukpai as he left the courthouse in the company of his lawyers.
One source told SaharaReporters that, “Uche Ejiogu and Ben-Chika Uzoagu came with some men and surrounded Ukpai and his lawyer in front of the Federal High Court building. At least one of the men had a gun on him. They said they were from Rivers State Criminal Investigation Department, Port Harcourt. They said they had petitions against Ukpai written by some persons. They ignored pleas by Ukpai’s lawyer to drive his client to the police station, and shoved Ukpai into a vehicle and drove away.”
A legal source told Reporters that it was disturbing that defendants in a civil case “would use the police to harass, arrest and detain a company executive who took them to court seeking relief for their alleged illegal hijack of a company he helped found.”
A police source confirmed Mr. Ukpai’s arrest, stating that his arrest arose from a petition written by some men, including Uche Ejiogu and Ben-Chika Uzoagu, both respondents in Mr. Ukpai’s lawsuit.
The source insisted that the police treated Mr. Ukpai with courtesy after he was brought to their office. A source close to Mr. Ukpai agreed, adding that a high-ranking police officer in Abuja had inquired about the circumstances surrounding Mr. Ukpai’s arrest from a courthouse.
The police reportedly questioned Mr. Ukpai from around 1 p.m. to approximately 8 p.m. Our source disclosed that the police asked questions about the petitioners’ allegation that he stole an official Kia Cerato car from SDS. The former SDS MD maintained that the car is his official car as MD of SDS.
Our source also disclosed that Mr. Ukpai was shown a copy of an article by SaharaReporters detailing impunity by Mr. Nwibe and his cohorts at SDS, and asked if he had granted an interview to our correspondent.
“This whole issue smacks of reckless abuse of power and influence by the men Ukpai took to court to enforce his rights against being pushed out of a company he co-founded and co-owned,” said a lawyer.
He credited police in Abuja and Port Harcourt with acting in a professional manner “once they realized that those who engineered Mr. Ukpai’s arrest were desperate men used to getting away with acts of impunity.”
Reporters learned that a top police officer in Rivers State later intervened to ensure that Mr. Ukpai’s rights were not trampled upon.
“The Deputy Commissioner of Police realized it was unreasonable to keep Mr. Ukpai detained when the so-called cause for his arrest was not criminal in nature,” said the legal source. He added: “If not for the Deputy Commissioner, Ukpai would have remained locked up, as Uzoagu, Ejiogu and cohorts intended. But the DC looked at the facts and acted with the kind of integrity to be expected of a high-ranking police officer.”