Filling stations shut in Ogun

Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta

The axe of the officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Thursday evening, fell on some filling stations in Abeokuta metropolis as they were sealed off for not complying with the Federal Government directive to sell petrol at N86.50 per litre.

Filling stations at Oloomore, Ita Oshin and Adigbe areas of the town were the ones.
Surprisingly, the officials, before sealing off the filling stations, dispensed fuel free of charge to motorists, okada riders and others at the filling stations for hours.

The filling stations are owned by most of the independent marketers who have failed to sell the products at the official pump price of N86.50 as directed by the federal government.

Only the NNPC mega stations at Oke Mosan and Oloomore in Abeokuta are selling the product at the official price of N86.00.

Speaking with our correspondent under the condition of anonymity, one of the DPR officials said that a lot of complaints have been received concerning the selling and hoarding of the product in the state, especially, in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The source confirmed that several petitions have been received by the people, hinted that, several warning letters have been written to them to stop or be expecting the full wrath of law.

According to the source, “the people here have been complaining about what they are passing through in the hands of the marketers in the state, especially those within Abeokuta.

“We have reached out to the marketers, warning them of the act, which to us is act of sabotage but with what happened today, they will sit up.

“We are still going to move round the state. We just commenced the operation in the capital city, other towns too should be expecting us.

“Towns like Sagamu, Ikenne, Remo North, Ijebu Ode, Ilaro, Ayetoro and some towns at the border axis should be expecting us. We are not going to relent until all of them comply with the directive of selling at the official pump price of N86.50.

“According to investigations, they are selling at the range of N110 – N130 per litre. Can you imagine the difference? But we are ready for them.”

Some of the Managers of the sealed filling stations stated that they had begged to be allowed to exhaust the product in the tank, which according to them, was purchased at the old price.

They appealed for more understanding from the officials of the DPR so as not to subject the residents to further hardship.

Other filling stations within the town had closed at about 7:15pm when our correspondent moved round to assess the situation.