There was panic buying of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol on Tuesday as some petroleum marketers in Kogi State stopped selling their products to customers.
There decision to hoard their product was following rumours that there were plans by the Federal Government to increase fuel price from the usual N145 per liter.
Newsflash247 check on Tuesday night revealed that popular petroleum dealers in Lokoja that sells their product up to 11 pm in the night turned down motorist saying ‘there is no more fuel to sell.’
Filling station in the State Capital in areas such as Ganaja junction, Ganaja Village, Ajaokuta road, Zone 8, Muritala Muhammed way and part of NATACO were already locked as at 7 pm, unlike their usual operations.
It was also gathered that some motorists and residents who are in dear need of PMS to move their vehicles to their respective destinations or power their generator sets at home opted to patronize roadside sellers who also capitalized on the artificial scarcity to sell at the rate of N300 per liter.
Motorist and residents in local government such as Ofu, Okene, Adavi, Ajaokuta, Olamaboro are also having their own share of artificial scarcity.
Reacting to this development, motorists who identified himself as Kolawole Akeem told our correspondent that, if the said rumor is true, it will be unfair for the government to punish electorates who massively voted them into power in 2015.
His words “Let me just assume that it is a mere rumor and won’t come to pass. Do you mean in this trying period of ours we are still going to buy fuel more than N145 per liter when we are yet to recover from the earlier increment? Whosoever that is planning this must be joking. We won’t accept this again”.
