Transport Workers, Artisans Protest Against Fuel Marketers
Amalgamation of transport unions, artisans in Ekiti State, Wednesday took to the streets of Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital to protest against the lingering strike declared by filling station owners in the state.
The protest was coming barely a day after some hoodlums descended on filling stations in the town and vandalized properties worth millions of naira.
The protesting transport workers who issued 24 hours ultimatum to the petroleum marketers to shift ground by selling the product to the users or face the wrath of Ekiti populace who had been adversely affected by the development accused the dealers of being allegedly propelled by the opposition.
The fuel marketers in compliance to the directives of the leadership of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and Petrol Tanker Drivers ( PTD), stop supplying the product to the state over what they described as open victimization of members by Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The drivers and artisans, who were led by were led by the Chairmen of the National Union of Road Transport Worker s(NURTW) , Com Clement Adekola and his counterpart in Lorry and Pick-up Transport Association of Nigeria, Com Adekunle Atowoju marched from Fajuyi area via Ojumose to old garage , lamented that they were the worst hit by the fuel stations’ closure and appealed to the recalcitrant oil marketers to refrain from being used by the opposition against Fayose.
Adekola said: “We are for peace in Ekiti and the only way to sustain peace is for all of us to work with the government of the day. Let the oil marketers dialogue with government and if they can’t do it alone, they should contact other unions for speedy arbitration.
“The drivers and artisans are badly affected. Even most worrisome was the way the police had been maltreating our members who used to buy fuel from Ondo , Osun and Kogi States. They stopped them at checkpoints and dehumanized them, this must not continue.
“Let me also reiterate this, this protest is going to be a continuous one and if the oil marketers refuse to allow fuel to flow, we will move against them. We suspect that they have been bought over by opposition to destabilize Fayose’s government. We believe that their resolve not to sell fuel during General Adeyinka Adebayo’s burial was purely political.”
