Officials of the Nigerian Army yesterday took over the Ojodu Berger outlet of Capital Oil, buying petroleum products in drums, after scaring away thousands of consumers. The armed personnel came in the guise of maintaining peace and order, but they
soon abandoned their primary responsibility for fuel racket. They shoved, maltreated and sent away those who were on queue to be attended to.
The unregistered white Isuzu truck they used for the deal visited the filling station more than 4 times to load fuel. The vehicle, on each visit, left with at least 14 drums and dozens of gallons filled with fuel. The helpless consumers, some of who slept at the filling station, suspected the soldiers were feeding the growing Lagos black market with the product. They took over the only two pumps that dispensed petrol.
Those who protested the act were beaten, while some ( pictured ) were made to lay on the ground under the sun. Meanwhile, consumers, who had spent the entire Monday at the filling station without getting fuel to buy, had described the announcement by Ifeanyi Uba as a publicity stunt. By 9pm on Monday, not more than a hundred cars left the station with fuel.
Besides the military, officials of the Nigeria Police Force and black market dealers took over the show while thousands of motorists who had crowded the place since 5am were abandoned….. aggrieved Nigerians r now begging marketers n Ifeanyi Uba to pls resume d strike indefinitely so dt those soldiers would stop maltreating them……
