Fuel shortage had become palpable by the evening of Monday in Adamawa State as a result of strike action by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria, IPMAN.
Only motorists and other petrol users who still had stock of what they bought in the previous days operated around the state on Monday, as they could not get the product afresh.
Residents could move around freely apparently because enough commercial tricycle operators existed who had not run out of petrol, but many other users, such as private owners of power generators and commercial GSM phone charging centres had become helpless by Monday evening.
Members of the state IPMAN, who had lamented to the press at the weekend that their loaded petrol tankers were being seized unduly by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, had on Monday stepped up their protest by refusing to open their stations for motorists and other users of petrol to fill their tanks or Jerry cans.
Addressing a press briefing in Yola earlier on Saturday, June 22, IPMAN alleged that Customs’ anti-smuggling unit named Operation Whirlwind had ‘abandoned its routine duties’ and was confiscating petrol tankers belonging to its members, causing huge financial losses.
The state chairman of IPMAN, Alhaji Dahiru Buba, said five of his trucks loaded with petrol were seized illegally and urged governments at the state and federal levels to call the Nigeria Customs Service to order.
Newspot reports that Customs’ Operation Whirlwind, which was launched last month, has been seizing trucks of petrol which they suspect to be on their way out to neighbouring countries as smuggled products.
