Our correspondent who went round Owerri, the state capital, observed that while many filling stations claimed they had no petrol, others were selling at exorbitant price of N250 a little.
This is coming after three day strike embarked upon by independent marketers in the state over the demolition of the filling station of one of their members by the previous administration in the state.
The strike had been called off on Friday last week after a public outcry over scarcity and outrageous price of petroleum products as a result of the strike.
A litre of Premium Motor Spirit sold as high as N700 during the strike.
Vanguard gathered that the current scarcity of petrol in the state was a result of tanker drivers resolving not to convey petrol to Imo State as a way of protesting the suspension of the strike by the independent marketers.
A source told our correspondent that the owner of the demolished filling station was a former tanker driver, and as such, the tanker drivers were aggrieved that the strike was called off.
“The tanker drivers are angry that we called off the strike; they decided to stop conveying fuel to Imo. So, we are trying to see what we can do with the product we have. That’s the reason for the scarcity.
“Imolites were crying and that made us to call off the strike after the government agreed to do something about the situation. You remember we said we would resume the strike if government does nothing after two weeks. But the tanker drivers are opposed to that”, the source said.
A commercial bus driver, Michael Nwachukwu, who spoke with our correspondent, said the situation was becoming unbearable.
He called on the state government to do something about the situation urgently.
“They just called off the strike, and now they are selling petrol N250 a litre. We are just tired of this situation”, he stated.
