Fishermen under the aegis of Watch Out Multi-purpose Co-operative Association of Nigeria, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, have urged Governor Umo Eno to intervene in the sealing of filling stations in Ibaka by operatives of the Joint Task Force.
It could be recalled that military operatives at Ibaka, under the guise of Operation Delta Safe (a Joint Taskforce Operation), sealed up six filling stations in the river line community and impounded drums of PMS, drums of AGO, and two trucks of PMS, each containing 45,000 liters, on Friday, May 17.
The affected filling stations include Defamous Station, Super King Station, Godsflower Station, Eyotech Oil, Owo Station, and Handicap Station.
Speaking with our correspondent on Friday, the Spokesperson of the Association, Ade Johnbull, lamented that fishing activities have been grounded for almost a week due to the artificial fuel scarcity caused by the incident.
He called on Governor Eno to wade in so that normalcy would return to the area.
“As you can see, there is no activity going on here because our people cannot access the filling stations to buy fuel for our business. We don’t know what happened; we just woke up in the morning to see the Army sealed up all the filling stations here. I approached one of them, and he told me that the order was from above, so I don’t know what transpired.”
He continued, “It started since Friday last week, and it has been very difficult for us because some people will take a boat to as far as Ibaka to get fuel and come to sell at an exorbitant price, like N1,000 a liter or N1,500, unlike when the filling stations were open, and we were buying at N850 a liter.
“This has affected our business because you can’t go fishing, unlike before, even if you come back around 11 pm, you’ll just go to the filling stations and buy fuel with your drum or gallon. Why should somebody spend up to N400,000 on fuel just for fishing?”
Addressing a press conference earlier, the Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Oro chapter, Deacon Otuakak Emenyi, described the closure and impoundment of members’ products as unlawful and called on the army to restore the seized products and open up the filling stations within one week of the press statement or members in Oro nation would be mandated to stop the sale of petroleum products till the issue is resolved.
He explained that the victims were duly licensed by the federal government and were selling at N850 per liter of fuel, saying that the allegation by the Army that such a price was against the government-approved fuel pump price holds no water, as marketers sourced their products at an exorbitant rate.
The statement read partly, “Our members at Ibaka axis of Mbo L.G.A. said that troops of military personnel with Hilux and patrol trucks had invaded filling stations, impounded 44 drums of PMS, 2 drums of AGO, and 2 trucks of PMS, each containing 45,000 liters. As a river line community, Ibaka has fishermen who use fuel (petrol) in their outboard engines to sail their boats as they embark on their fishing spree to make ends meet and to enable them cater to the needs of their families.”
The statement continued, “Same way, those of us upland use fuel to power our motorcycles and vehicles to sustain our individual and collective businesses. It is therefore very worrisome and disheartening to note how uniform men see petroleum marketers in Ibaka community as collaborators in the smuggling of petroleum products to a nearby country.”
When contacted, the Army Public Relations Officer, 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Ibawa, Abak LGA, Adejimi Adebowale, said he would make inquiries about what actually happened and get back, as he was in Abuja for a program. However, as of the time of sending this report, he was yet to get back.
Akwa Ibom: Fishermen seek Gov Eno’s intervention as army seals filling stations in Ibaka