Police vow to resist plans against loading of PMS in Rivers

Rivers State Police Command has warned that whoever does anything to stop the smooth supply of petroleum products in the state will be brought to book.

The command, in a statement issued, yesterday, by its spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, explained that following the suspended strike action by oil marketers, some group of people went ahead to protest in a bid to tarnish the command’s reputation.

She said the group accused the Commissioner of Police, Eboka Friday, of not allowing them to extort money from petroleum tanker drivers.

The statement read: “The attention of Rivers State Police Command has been drawn to a protest by some disgruntled elements on September 19, along UTC junction to Government House, Port Harcourt, who alleged that the Commissioner of Police did not allow them to extort money from petroleum tanker drivers.

“Residents of Port Harcourt and its environs will easily recall that for about a week preceding the day of the protest, PTD-NUPENG embarked on strike action as a result of which the people of Rivers State suffered untold hardship due to the resultant fuel scarcity.

“The Commissioner of Police, as a way of expressing his love for residents of the state, convened a meeting of all stakeholders. At the end of the deliberation, which lasted over six hours, a communiqué was issued and NUPENG called off the strike action. Everyone in the state was happy.”

He added: “Surprisingly, as they (PTD-NUPENG) started loading, a group of disgruntled elements, who, perhaps, were happy that there was scarcity in the town, blocked them from distributing petroleum products, insisting on collecting tolls from them. Irked that the agreement, which took hours to attain, was about to be scuttled, the police moved in to allow tanker drivers do their work. The next day, this group, who called themselves IPMAN, hired some urchins to disturb the peace of Port Harcourt.”

He called on residents of the state to discountenance them.