Fuel Scarcity: Arrest Fraudulent Marketers, Oni Tells Fayemi

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

Former Governor of Ekiti State and the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the June 18 state governorship election, Segun Oni, has called on the state Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to constitute a task force to arrest petrol marketers extorting buyers with exorbitant price in the state.

Oni, who sympathised with the people of the state on the lingering fuel scarcity, posited that it was callous for marketers to sell as much as N250 per litre, instead of the N162 regulated price approved by the federal government.

He described the situation as pathetic, as many people have abandoned their vehicles and resorted to trekking because transport fares have soared to unaffordable level.

In a statement issued in Ado Ekiti by the Director of Media and Publicity of the movement, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, yesterday, Oni said: “It is very sad that the government of the state has decided to look elsewhere rather than tackling the problems occasioned by the product scarcity.

“One would have expected Fayemi to take the bull by its horn by putting an effective task force in place that would not be bribed by those who deliberately hoard the commodity in order to make huge profit at the expense of the masses, and arrest them.”

He advised the governor to borrow ideas from his Ondo State counterpart, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who left the comfort of his office to the fuel stations to ease the problem by force.

Meanwhile, as the state governorship race gathers momentum, a pro-Segun Oni group, Build Back Better(BBB), has told the Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) to stop pressurising the teachers  to surrender their voters’ cards to be used for easy win by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji.

The group’s spokesman, Idowu Adelusi, said asking any worker to vote for a candidate under duress is anti-democratic and against the spirit and letters of the country’s constitution.

It said: “The teachers spoke with us, and they are ready for the worse. This political harassment on the part of the government was smacked of self-defeat attitude, when election is still more than three months away.

“Has the APC government already accepted defeat? Workers must be allowed to vote according to their consciences.

“But the question we are asking is, when did the education officers become politicians and agents of the APC?  As teachers, they still know their rights to vote for the political parties and candidates of their choices.

“In a situation where the teachers are treated without honour, dignity and respect, where their statutory rights and benefits are not given, the election time is a good payback time, and they shall not shy away from it. Nobody should harass them. They deserve to be respected as fellow stakeholders in the state political affairs,” the statement said.