FAYOSE CAUGHT ON CAMERA BUYING BLACK MARKET PETROL,RESOLVES 3 WEEK CRISIS WITH MARKETERS

Petroleum marketers in Ekiti State have suspended their four-week-old industrial action which had nearly brought economics activities in the state to its knees.

After a meeting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Sunday, brokered by Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the marketers agreed to suspend their “strike”and resume normal activities in Ekiti State.

The meeting had been attended by some of the traditional rulers in Ekiti State, who had earlier intervened in the impasse, along with the Ekiti Elders Council, in a bid to thaw the ice of the protracted crisis.

Among the monarchs at the meeting were the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe; the Alara of Aramoko, Oba Olu Adeyemi; the Arinjale of Ise-Ekiti, Oba Ajayi, the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti Command, Mr. Abdullahi Chafe among other top personalities in the state.

The traditional rulers and the elders had sought the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians in the resolution of the impasse, which had led to the open sale of petrol in the streets of Ado Ekiti by black marketers.

In a communique at the end of the meeting, the stakeholders said it was resolved, among other things, that “in the spirit of reconciliation, Ekiti State government agreed to pleas for reversal of the revocation of some certificates of occupancy of landed properties on which filling stations are built, except the ones on waterways, canals and where there is no justification for such revocation.”

According to the communique signed by Governors Fayose and Aregbesola and the General Secretary of National Union of Petroleum, Energy and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Joseph Ogbebor, it was also resolved that “in that same spirit, the government agreed to stop further demolitions pending the outcome of the committee’s report.”

In the document also endorsed by the Zonal Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Debo Ahmed and the National Vice Chairman of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of NUPENG, Solomon Kilanko, they said “consequently, NUPENG and IPMAN and other related oil and gas unions hereby suspend the industrial action embarked upon by their members, with immediate effect.”

They said an ad hoc committee would be constituted “to fashion out in clear terms the conditions and guidelines for the establishment and operations of filling stations in Ekiti State,” and added that “the committee comprising representatives of Ekiti State government and oil and gas stakeholders shall commence work on Wednesday 7th June, 2017.”

The governor is seen in the picture buying petrol from a vendor (black market) in the State capital