IPMAN Threatens To Shut C/River, Akwa Ibom Petrol Stations
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Calabar Depot, has threatened to shut down filling stations in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states over alleged incessant harassment of its leadership by security operatives.
The threat came on the heels of reported deployment of police authorities from Abuja to arrest the IPMAN chairman, Mr Robert Obi, and close down their office in Calabar over alleged leadership crisis.
IPMAN stakeholders said they were shocked that after the national leadership of association and the Cross River State Government had resolved all the issues, the special monitoring unit from the Inspector General’s office were still after the leadership of the association on trumped up charges.
It was gathered that police detectives from the IG’s office arrived in Calabar and moved to the state police command on Monday, seeking permission to arrest Obi.
The detectives were seen at the depot on Wednesday around the IPMAN secretariat perhaps to pick and whisk him away to Abuja.
In an interview with journalists in Calabar on Wednesday, the spokesman for the Stakeholders Forum, Mr Joseph Akan, said they were ‘tired of the hide-and-seek being played by police detectives from Abuja accused of the association’s terrorising our leadership’.
Akan said, “Last week some police officers came from Abuja claiming that they were from the Inspector-General of Police’s office, and this week, another set came, still claiming they were from the same office for the same IPMAN.
“Please, we are pleading with these officers to leave Calabar petrol dealers alone instead of igniting the problem.
“The state government had intervened in the problem and had resolved whatever issues that were lingering. But it seems to me now that the police from Abuja don’t want us to enjoy peace.
“We have suffered a lot in their hands even when the matter is in court. Our members are waiting for a last minute directive from their leaders to close shops until they leave Calabar.”
