Petrol scarcity may worsen as tanker drivers accuse security agents of destroying products

The scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, may linger in various parts of the country as tanker drivers accused security operatives of destroying products lifted from refineries.

The chairman of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), Lucky Osesua, said this at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.

Osesua said the military, on Tuesday night, destroyed two trucks conveying High Pour Fuel Oil (HPFO), popularly known as black oil, from Walter Smith Refinery and Petrochemical Ibigwe in Imo state.

The PTD chairman said the trucks marked, EFR 770 XA and AFZ 351 ZY, were intercepted and burnt by the security operatives in Rivers State.

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Osesua, who said the trucks laden with 40,000 litres of black oil were on their way to Delta State, said the destruction of the products would affect their ability to supply petrol across the country.

He said: “The drivers presented way bills, NUPENG receipts, and quality control documents but the military men still insisted that they carried crude oil. They drove the two trucks away and burnt them between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers state, on Tuesday night.

“Without investigation, without reaching out to the refinery where the drivers mentioned that they lifted the black oil, the soldiers burnt down the trucks in less than five hours.

“Enough is enough about the high-handedness of our security agents.

“They should stop demonising our union and persecuting our men who are doing their normal businesses. We expect that in this modern world, trained security agents should be able to identify black oil as against crude oil.

“We should not be at the receiving end of their ignorance,” the PTD chairman stated.

The Star