IPMAN rejects new factional leadership, cautions tanker drivers against interference

National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, has described the Annual General Meeting and Inauguration of New National Executive Council, organised by a faction allegedly led by Chief Obasi Lawson, as null and void.

Speaking to The Guardian in Abuja, yesterday, Okoronkwo also admonished IPMAN members across the country to disregard any other group besides the one headed by him. According to him, the legally constituted executive of IPMAN under his leadership remains intact and is still piloting affairs of the association.

Okoronkwo said the move by the faction was a flagrant violation of a judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in Abuja on December 14, 2018.

He said the judgment read by Justice Musa Muhammad in suit No. SC15/2015 recognised him and Alhaji Danladi Pasali as President and Secretary of IPMAN, respectively.

Efforts to speak with Obasi proved abortive, as he declined to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Okoronkwo called on the Federal Government to monitor the activities of petroleum tanker drivers, which he described as worrisome.

“They have been collecting levies from marketers without authority from any quarter. And because I challenged their activities in court and reported some of them to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), they have vowed not to allow IPMAN have peace,” he said.

The IMPAN boss expressed worry that the development was coming at a time government was trying to implement the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

He said: “This is a time that new order is coming into the business of our association. We are doing a lot with the government in the area of gas expansion and others. I feel that members should not be distracted at this time.

“I see this as another slap on the face of the association, coming from the Chairman of Tanker Drivers, Salmon A. Oladiti, who has no business in IPMAN. I see no reason this body should not face its affairs and leave our association alone.”

For us to have gone to the court showed our commitment to law and order, and I believe that the decision of the court should be obeyed. The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) has written to IPMAN members to obey the decision of the Supreme Court.”

Okoronkwo hinted that at the expiration of his tenure in 2023, the presidency of IPMAN would be zoned to the North West, in line with a zoning arrangement. “What these people are doing is to cause trouble in the system. But nobody has a monopoly on violence. We are doing this to let the world know the truth, that we are law-abiding,” he stated.