Stella Oduah Purchased $13 Million Oil Tanker While She Was A Minister

SaharaReporters has exclusively obtained
shipping and merchant vessel documents
which show that the disparaged former

Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah
purchased and registered an oil tanker a
few months before she was sacked by
former President Goodluck Jonathan.
It will be recalled that Mrs. Oduah, now
the Senator from Anambra State, was
sacked by Mr. Jonathan in February 2014
following a series of exposes from
SaharaReporters connecting her to a
massive BMW vehicle scandal. In recent
days, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) discovered that N2.5
billion was put in a bank account under
the name of Mrs. Oduah’s housemaid.

The EFCC said “Senator Oduah apparently
opened the account with her housemaid’s
name, image, and details without the
housemaid knowing about it.”
This latest scandal, which involves the
unexplainable purchase of a massive oil
tanker, is connected to Mrs. Oduah’s
company Sea Petroleum and Gas
Company Ltd. This company purchased
the vessel SEA STERLING, with call sign
5NXF, and later registered it in the Port of
Lagos.
According to the Certificate of
Classification, by the International
Classification Society, the SEA STERLING
was certified and entered in to the Bureau
Veritas Register Book as having
unrestricted navigation.
The vessel, also listed as an Oil tanker on
the classification document, was stated as
being owed by Sea Petroleum and Gas
Company Ltd with a Nigerian flag. It was
given the registration number 14565J and
valid until May 23rd 2017.
The certificate was issued on August 26th,
2013 at Lagos and later obtained
compliance and insurance accreditation in
September 2013.
Mrs. Oduah’s oil tanker, affixed with the
International Maritime Organization (IMO)
number 9607318, is said to be able to
freight 4,126 gross tons.
SaharaReporters found that on August
26th 2014 the Sea Sterling was attacked
by pirates off the coast of Bayelsa State
but were repelled by security onboard.
A SaharaReporters investigation into the
vessel found that it was built in 2012 and
is 112 meters long.
One maritime expert, who SaharaReporters
provided the specifications of Mrs.
Oduah’s oil tanker to, said that “a 6,000
dwt [dead weight] product tanker built in
2009 was recently sold for $12.2 million.
So a similar sized tanker built in 2012 [like
Stella Oduah’s] would probably be valued
between $13 and $15 million.”
He added that, “this assumes a willing
buyer and a willing seller and also depends
on the vessels’ condition and the shipyard
it was built.”
Mrs. Oduah was not immediately available
for comment on how her company was
able to afford this oil tanker.





Source: Esther.com