CP Eboka Vows To Deal With Persons Who Disrupt Supply Of Petroleum Products In Rivers
The Commissioner of Police, CP Eboka Friday has assured the public that whoever does anything to stop the smooth supply of petroleum products in this State, will be brought to book.
CP Eboka said this while reacting to a protest staged by a faction of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) over the weekend less than twenty fours tanker driver’s resumed loading of products at depots.
In a statement by SP Grace Iringe Koko the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police command on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, CP Eboka Friday said the attention of the Rivers State Police command has been drawn to a protest by some disgruntled elements on 17/9/2022 along UTC junction to Government House, Port Harcourt, who alleged that the Commissioner of Police did not allow them to extort money from petroleum tankers’ drivers.
“The command would have ignored them, considering the fact that most people captured on camera on that day were hired urchins.
However, the need to save the good people of Rivers State from being fed with wrong information has necessitated this response.
“Residents of Port Harcourt and its environs, will easily recall that for about a week preceding the day of the protest, PTD-NUPENG embarked on a strike action as a result of which the people of Rivers State suffered untold hardship due to the resultant fuel scarcity.
The Commissioner of Police as a way of expressing his love for residents of the State, convened a meeting of all stakeholders on 16/9/2022. At the end of the deliberation which lasted over six hours, a communiqué was issued and NUPENG called off the strike action.
Everyone in the state was of course happy.
“Surprisingly, as they PTD-NUPENG started loading, a group of disgruntled elements who perhaps were happy that there was scarcity in the town, blocked them from distributing petroleum product, insisting on collecting tolls from them.
Irked that the agreement which took hours to attain was about to be scuttled, the Police moved in to allow the tanker drivers do their work.
The next day, this group who called themselves IPMAN, hired some urchins to disturb the peace of Port Harcourt.
“While calling on residents of the State to discountenance them, the Commissioner of Police is reassuring the public that whoever does anything to stop the smooth supply of petroleum products in this State, will be brought to book.
The good people of the state cannot be subjected to hardship because of the pecuniary interest of a few individuals”.
