A popular adage says when two elephants clash, it is the grass that suffers and this axiom best explains the clash between Governor Ayo Fayose and petrol marketers in Ekiti State who shut their outlets against consumers over their alleged victimisation by the state chief executive. The face-off assumed a violent dimension with the attack on some filling stations by suspected hoodlums. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.
The past three weeks have been quite taxing for residents of Ekiti State who had suffered indescribable hardship as a result of scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol and other petroleum products.
The development was sparked by a face-off between Governor Ayo Fayose and petrol marketers who closed down their stations in obedience to the order of the national leadership of Independent Petrol Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD).
The seed of the discord was sown by the decision of the state government to demolish petrol stations located in residential areas on the heels of a January 8 fire incident that razed a filling station owned by Strive Energy Limited in Ijigbo, Ado-Ekiti which spread to 25 other buildings.
Petrol stations under construction in areas government believe are illegal and contrary to existing law were demolished and the leadership of the above-named bodies engaged government in a dialogue and it was resolved that work should stop on stations being constructed in unauthorised places while peace process continues.
But government’s decision to take some marketers to court after the peace meeting was the immediate cause of the latest imbroglio which did not go down well with the national unions of the oil-based bodies.
A marketer in Igede-Ekiti and six of his supporters who resisted government agents’ attempt to bulldoze a filling station under construction were arraigned in court and are now remanded in prison in Ado-Ekiti.
The national bodies of the unions ordered stoppage of fuel supply to Ekiti and directed marketers to shut their stations “until further notice.” The unions believe that Fayose’s action was contrary to truce reached at the peace meeting held with him.
Residents, including civil servants, students, farmers, market women, taxi drivers, commercial motorcycle riders had terrible stories to tell since supplies of fuel to the state were stopped.
They travelled to neighbouring states such as Ondo, Osun, Kwara and Kogi to purchase petrol. Black marketers cashed in on the situation and sold the commodity at outrageous prices.
In many towns and villages, economic and social activities were paralysed as prices of goods and services go beyond the reach of the common man.
The crisis assumed a violent dimension on Tuesday, May 23 when suspected thugs swooped on some filling stations in Ado Ekiti and destroyed property worth several millions of Naira.
Commercial drivers and artisans also staged public protests warning owners of the petrol stations to open their business offices to the public or “face the consequences of their stubbornness.”
The attack began at NIPCO Filling Station owned by the Secretary of the Petrol Dealers’ Association of Nigeria (PEDAN) Ekiti State chapter, Alhaji Sulaiman Akinbami, whom the thugs accused of collecting N50 million from a political party. They also accused Akinbami of being the mastermind of ongoing fuel dealers’ strike.
The thugs overturned refrigerators and smashed bottles of soft drinks and poured engine oil on the floor. They chased away members of staff in the filling station; causing panic in the neighbourhood.
Two filling stations operated by Tetra Abby Company along Adebayo Road and Dallimore Street were also vandalised by the hoodlums.
A worker at NIPCO said: “The thugs came in three vehicles. One Hilux van with government’s number plate and two mini buses, popularly called ‘Akoto’. They chanted war songs and chased everybody away; thereby disrupting traffic. They hurled missiles at anything in sight.
“They were armed with dangerous weapons. We had to escape by scaling the fence at the back of the building because they were determined to kill whoever dared to challenge them.
“All the six dispensing machines at the filling station were vandalised. Windows and doors of the building housing its supermarket and lubricant were smashed.”
The governor, on Thursday, May 25, gave the marketers a 24-hour ultimatum to open their filling stations to members of the public or have their Certificates of Occupancy (C of Os) revoked but the marketers defied the order.
Southwest Report learnt that many of the owners of the petrol stations had gone underground and remained incommunicado following the attack by hoodlums who destroyed property worth millions of Naira on three filling stations on Tuesday.
An Islamic body, Muslim Rights Congress (MURIC) has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to stop those it referred to as “Governor Fayose’s thugs” from carrying out further attacks on homes and business premises of Muslims and other law-abiding residents of Ekiti State.
MURIC Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, in an online press statement made available to our reporter on penultimate Friday, described the attacks on filling stations of a prominent Muslim businessman, Alhaji Sulaiman Akinbami and other marketers as “flagrant abuse of power to threaten law-abiding and peaceful citizens.”
Akintola said: “MURIC strongly condemns this impunity; we call on the Inspector-General of Police to quickly intervene and restore law and order. We demand adequate protection for Alhaji Akinbami and his property.
An All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Mr. Isola Fapohunda, has also criticised Governor Fayose’s crackdown on petrol marketers which has brought the state to its knees in the past two weeks.
While addressing a press conference in Ado-Ekiti, Fapohunda condemned destruction of some petrol stations by suspected thugs.
He said: “We need to advise government at this stage that there are several ways to skin a chicken. Tact and diplomacy in governance are attributes that must be embraced for the peace and prosperity.
“The marketers have been unjustifiably treated by someone who should know better, but who has chosen to ignore wise counsels. But still, I want to appeal to petrol dealers to kindly consider all these and re-open their stations for the sale of fuel.”
Meanwhile, the Ekiti Council of Elders has called for the extension of the ultimatum issued by Fayose to oil marketers to allow for intervention in the two-week faceoff.
The council, at its emergency meeting on May 25 in Ado-Ekiti expressed concern with the development which they described as “worrisome.”
In a statement issued at the end of the meeting signed by the council’s Chairman, Prof. Joseph Oluwasanmi and General-Secretary, Mr. Niyi Ajibulu appealed to marketers to commence sales of the commodity to the public.
The statement reads: “The Ekiti Council of Elders, at an emergency meeting on May 25, noted with concern the worrisome development in the fuel crisis in Ekiti State.
“We appeal for calm from all stakeholders, the government, the petroleum dealers, the drivers and the governor for the extension of the ultimatum in order to give the Council the opportunity to intervene towards an equitable settlement of the impasse.
But the state government condemned the role of the national leadership of IPMAN, NUPENG and PTD in the hardship unleashed on the citizens by the scarcity of fuel.
The Chairman of Petroleum Products Consumer Protection Agency (PPCPA), Elder Adeyemi Adebayo, who claimed that only four filling stations had started dispensing the commodity said government’s decision to sanitise the sector was in the overall interest of the masses.
Adebayo said: “About four of the filling stations have started selling fuel, pulled out of the marketers’ union’s decision.
“They said the tanker drivers’ union are not allowing their fuel to come into the state, and that those drivers are diverting the petrol trailers to neighbouring states.
“When I spoke to the chairman of the tanker drivers in Ekiti, he explained that the directive to prevent petroleum tankers from coming to the state was from the national body of the oil marketers. He added that his team in Abuja were having meeting with the oil marketers concerning the development.
“The genesis of this crisis was the aftermath of a petrol station, Strive Energy in Ijigbo area of Ado-Ekiti which caught fire and destroyed property worth millions of Naira.
Many shops owners and some landlords whose property were affected had cried to state government to assist them get compensation from the owner of Strive Energy who, at first, was evading them.
“The incident led to many unhealthy under-dealings that were exposed. The government discovered that the petrol station in particular and many others in the state do not have insurance to cover damage incurred during such fire incidents.
