The Ogun State chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) threatened to close all of its outlets if the Department of State Security followed through on its threat to clamp down on its members on Wednesday.
Last week, the DSS gave the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and oil marketers a 48-hour deadline to make petrol available throughout the country.
In response to the DSS ultimatum, IPMAN said in a statement signed by its Chairman, Femi Adelaja, that the security agency had failed to reason with genuine business operators who do not obtain products from government depots and sell them at government-approved prices.
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Adelaja stated that security officials should go after those who make it difficult for IPMAN members to obtain supplies.
He claimed that the DSS had chosen the path of dishonour by threatening IPMAN members, whose businesses he claims rely on loans and other credit facilities provided by commercial banks at unfavorable interest rates.
Adelaja called the DSS’s position on fuel scarcity a “ploy by a government agency that had failed in its statutory responsibility.”
As a result, IPMAN has warned the DSS to reverse its previous position of cracking down on IPMAN members and to apologize to Nigerians for its actions.
The press statement reads, “Rather than for the security operatives to go after those who are making supplies difficult for IPMAN members, they have chosen the path of dishonour by threatening to go after IPMAN members, whose businesses survives on loans and other credit facilities provided by commercial banks at a not-too-friendly interest rate.
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“If any of the law enforcing agencies in Nigeria is genuinely concerned about the security of the country, they should go after the NNPCL officials and ensure that they make the product available for independent marketers at the already agreed price and desist from the unnecessary ranting ‘of a wounded lion’.
“IPMAN regarded the DSS stance on this matter as coming from a government agency that is fastly deviating from its statutory responsibility to chasing genuine business investors around all in the name of securing the nation”.
“IPMAN however, warned that should the DSS fail to reverse its position and apologise to the peace loving members of the Nigerian society, whose psyche was affected by its earlier statement, we would be left with no alternative than to close all our outlets across Ogun State.”
