Some members of the Ondo State chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have staged a peaceful protest over alleged illegal evacuation of diesel, kerosene and premium motor spirit(PMS) from the NNPC depot in Ore, Odigbo local government area of the state.
The protesters said petroleum products from the NNPC Ore depot were meant to be distributed to Ondo and Ekiti States
They said the products were being diverted to other parts of the country on the excuses of shortages especially in the northern parts.
Salisu Ojo, who spoke on Sunday, on behalf of the protesters, said some people came with letters from NNPC headquarters to evacuate the diesel and kerosene.
Ojo stated that what prompted the protest was when they discovered that the those who got the products diverted and sold the products to non existing companies in Lagos.
According to him: “Having discovered the development, we the marketers decided to protest when the same set of people came with another letters to evacuate premium motor spirit (PMS) from the depot.
“The people of Ondo and Ekiti states are currently suffering from nonavailability of diesel, kerosene and PMS and this had led to long queues at filling stations mostly in the state capital, Akure.
“We are calling on relevant agencies to investigate where diesel and kerosene that were loaded last week went into and also to make sure that the remaining pms (petrol) at the depot spread across the two states of Ondo and Ekiti.”
Last week, prices of PMS rose in Ondo State to between N175 per litre to N200 per litre.