The lingering face off between members of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Kwara state over price regulation of petroleum products took a dramatic turn in Ilorin on Wednesday when members of IPMAN unsealed all filling stations sealed by the men of the DPR.
SocietyGists gathered that the activities of the IPMAN members in Ilorin took place in the presence of security operatives that accompanied the DPR officials.
Meanwhile, following the reported unbundling of the NNPC, the NNPC depot at Oke Ose in Ilorin and all the corporation’s outlets in the state did not operate on Wednesday.
It was also gathered that staff of the corporation had locked the gate at the NNPC depot on Wednesday morning, while movement in and outside the premises were prevented even with presence of security operatives.
The officials of DPR, led by the Controller, Mr. Salvation Phillip, in four hilux jeep and two private cars, were reportedly escorted by security personnel in two jeep during the price regulation monitoring exercise.
The IPMAN on the other hand were said to be in their chairman’s official jeep, lPMAN Hummer bus, IMB bus and some members’ personal cars numbering about 10.
It was also gathered that while the DPR officials sealed some stations, the IPMAN members, led by its chairman, Alhaji Okanlawon Olanrewaju, unsealed them immediately in the presence of the DPR staff and security officers.
The independent petroleum marketers said that most of the stations sold at N86.50 per litre because they loaded at NNPC depots either Mosimi or Lagos, while those that got their products from private depots sold between N110/N120 per litre.
However, the face off apparently benefited some members of the public as queues for fuel in Ilorin had suddenly disappeared since last Friday when IPMAN drew battle line with DPR.
Speaking with journalists, Alhaji Olanrewaju said, “We are buying petrol from private depots at N106, making it N111 with landing cost. We do not have more than two trucks at Ilorin depot as we speak with you now. We can’t continue like that. We have gone to dialogue with Controller of the DPR in the state but he refused to listen to us and we don’t know why the Ilorin case is so peculiar because other states in the country are selling at the rate they buy the product in depot. We won’t obey any price regulation if we continue to buy the product at the private depot,” Olanrewaju said.
It was also gathered that the IPMAN members followed officials of the DPR round the whole town to carry out the threat to unseal all the sealed filling stations.
Also speaking with journalists at the end of the exercise, the Controller of the DPR, Mr.Salvation Philip, said the exercise was based on information available to them that petroleum law regarding pricing is been violated and that they were out to communicate the message that nobody is above, saying there are laws governing all sectors of economy of the country.