Petrol scarcity hits Kogi

As petrol scarcity hits Kogi State, the Kogi State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested two persons and sealed off a petrol station in connection with the sales of adulterated premium motor spirit PMS to motorists.

Suleiman Marafa, the state commandant of NSCDC while parading the suspects at the command headquarters in Lokoja, pointed out that his men acting on credible intelligence, swung into action and arrested one Sani Nuhu a pump attendant and Ibrahim Alih, pump engineer working for Bomac Filling Station on Okene-Lokoja highway.

The commandant equally disclosed that six drivers of Peugeot boxers who bought the fuel early that morning lodged complaints of the damage done to their vehicles after they had bought petrol from the station, adding that after a critical examination of the product, it was discovered to be highly adulterated with water, hence, the arrest of the pump attendant and engineer at the station.

Marafa also disclosed that the enabling laws of the corps empowered them to arrest and prosecute anyone circumventing the economic policies of the government, calling on the general public to avail security agencies with credible information that will lead to the bursting of crimes and criminality.

“This act of selling adulterated petrol to motorists and above the regulated price constitutes economic sabotage. We are empowered by the enabling law to arrest citizens trying to frustrate the economic policies of the government. Selling adulterated petrol and the above the regulated price is purely sabotaging, and the perpetrators will be treated as saboteurs,” he said.

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“When we complete our investigation and whoever is found culpable will definitely face the wrath of the law. I’m using this medium to solicit the support of the general public to always give timely and reliable information to the security agencies. We can’t do it alone, we need the cooperation of the public to fight crime and criminality, and it is one of such collaboration that leads to the arrest of the staff of the filling station”.

“I urge you to say something when you see something, and all of us, when we do our part, we will be able to defeat criminals in whatever forms in our society,” he further said.

He reiterated the command’s commitment to flush out criminals from the state, revealing how the Commandant-General, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, has been supportive to the command to achieve its mandate.

The pump attendant, who also spoke, said that he monitored the discharge of the product into the tank the previous day and that it was certified okay but was surprised when the six customers accused him of selling adulterated petrol to them before the men of NSCDC arrested him.

In a related development, one of the motorists, Usman Jibrin, said he took off from Bauchi on his way to Lagos, when he and his colleagues bought the fuel at the station, and later discovered that it was mixed with water, adding that immediately the pump attendant dispensed petrol into his tank, all efforts to kick start the engine failed, which prompted him to raise the alarm.