THE Department of Petroleum (DPR), Abeokuta Field Office in Ogun State, has sealed off a petrol station, Olusegun Aje Nigeria Limited (OANL), along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway in Ilaro, for allegedly hoarding 23,500 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), on Friday.
Other gas stations shut by the agency were Tunji Isola Station at Obada Oko; Pixal Petroleum, Papalanto; Guinea Gold Petroleum, Arigbajo; Rolafeek Investment Limited, Ifo and Tip Top Mega Energy Oil and Gas, Iyana-Iyesi, Ota.
Some of the filling stations apart from hoarding were sealed off for under dispensing, obstruction of justice and installation of commercial gas cylinders without approval.
The DPR Head of Operations, Mr Akinlade Kasali, discovered 4,020 litres of petrol inside a tank at Tunji Sola Filling Station, Obada-Oko, that was not being dispensed to members of the public.
Kasali who led the DPR team on the surveillance exercise said it had become necessary after discovering that some filling stations were still hoarding, under-dispensing fuel and selling above the pump price.
“We have discovered that some filling stations are either hoarding or selling above pump price, as high as N180 or N200 naira per litre, which is against the government policy of N145. Anytime we see any filling station either hoarding or not selling, we order them to sell.
Mr Kasali who decried the artificial scarcity created by the filling stations hoarding fuel, added that arrest were made due to uncooperative attitude of some people at the petrol stations visited.
He said “Normally in a situation like this, we didn’t want to make any arrest, but just to ask them to sell. But from experience, some of the filling stations that we sealed didn’t cooperate with us.
“When we asked them to start selling, they put off their engine, that is, their generator, which is against government policy. This country is blessed with petroleum and the good people of Nigeria are not supposed to be denied of the resources this country is known to have.
“Because of the uncooperative attitude of these filling stations and some other persons, we had to make few arrests through the Civil Defence Corps. I believe the law would take its full course.”
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC, Ogun State, CSP Kareem Olanrewaju explained the reason for the arrests made in connection with the fuel hoarding and price hike.
He said “Basically, four people have been arrested for their role in hoarding fuel and some were also guilty of breach of peace. One of them particularly obstructed us for a very long period.”
He, however, disclosed that he had notified NSCDC offices in the areas to be on the alert and make deployment to the filling stations visited by the DPR for further monitoring.
Mr Olanrewaju revealed that those arrested would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
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