In his halcyon days as a top player in the nation’s oil and gas sector, Nasir Ali, son of former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmadu Ali, commanded a lot of respect. While he was envied by many in the industry, he would aptly fit the description of King of Groove, if there was anything like that.

Apart from being the owner of Nasman Oil and Services Limited, his other credentials in the social circle were that he drove posh cars, wore expensive designer watches and was a VIP card-carrying member of many A-list night clubs in Lagos and Abuja.

Society Watch gathered that club owners could afford to shut any other person out of their clubs as long as the man was around. He had so many things at his beck and call in his days of glory.

But for some inexplicable reasons, he poked the law in the eyes sometime in 2011. That was when he, in connivance with his cohorts, dug their hands into the cookie jar and was involved in a subsidy scam to the tune of N2.2 billion.

At the outset of the trial, he had wrongfully thought that he could escape justice owing to his father’s influence in society.

However, last Tuesday, the law eventually prevailed and he was convicted and sent to jail by Justice Mojisola Dada of Lagos High Court in Ikeja alongside his Sierra Leone-born friend.

The oil marketer, alongside his friend, had initially been arraigned on a 49-count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence, forgery and the use of false documents.

Delivering her judgment, Justice Dada found the evidence presented by the prosecution compelling and held that the actions of the defendants not only defrauded the government, but also undermined the integrity of Nigeria’s oil subsidy programme. The judge sentenced the defendants to 14 years imprisonment each and also ordered the forfeiture of identified assets and accounts linked to the fraud.

Justice Dada also issued a warrant for the arrest of both OluwaseunOgunbambo and Olabisi Abdul Afeez, two other suspects still at large.