Juliana Francis
The Rivers State Police has explained why the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) embarked on a protest in the state.
In a press statement, the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), a Superintendent of Police (SP) Grace Irine-Koko said that the Command decided to correct some wrong impressions on steps taken by the Rivers State Commissioner of Police Mr. Friday Eboka to ensure there was no strike and that the state has its petroleum supply.
She said: “The attention of the Rivers State Police Command has been drawn to a protest by some disgruntled elements on September 17, 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 that most people captured on camera that day were hired, urchins. However, the need to save the good people of Rivers State from being fed with the 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 strike action as a result of which the people of Rivers State suffered untold hardship due to the resultant fuel scarcity.”
Irine-Koko further explained that the Commissioner of Police as a way of expressing his love for residents of the State, convened a meeting of all stakeholders on September 16, 2022, and at the end of the deliberation, which lasted over six hours, a communiqué was issued and NUPENG called off the strike action.
She further stated: “Everyone in the state was of course happy. Surprisingly, as the PTD-NUPENG started loading, a group of disgruntled elements which perhaps were happy that there was scarcity in the town, blocked them from distributing petroleum products, insisting on collecting tolls from them. Worried that the agreement which took hours to attain was about to be scuttled, the Police moved in to allow the tanker drivers to 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, CP 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.”
