By CHIMEZIE ANASO

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has called on Gov. Chukwuma Soludo to caution officials of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources against alleged harassment and intimidation of members in the state.

IPMAN made the appeal in a protest letter to Soludo entitled “An Appeal To Stop Forthwith, Undue Harassment and Intimidation of our Members”.

The letter, signed by Mr Chinedu Anyaso and Mr Emeka Iloafor, Chairman and Secretary respectively of IPMAN, Enugu Depot Community in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu States was made available to journalists in Awka on Wednesday.

IPMAN said it was protesting alleged invasion of outlets by agents of the ministry, who were acting on a memo which engaged Divine Rapture Company as consultants to monitor and report ‘illegal activities’ within the oil and gas value chain.

The letter, signed by the Permanent Secretary and dated March 15 empowered Divine Rapture Company to monitor illegal bunkering, identify production and distribution of substandard petroleum products and gather intelligence on unlawful mining.

But the marketers called on Soludo to prevail on the ministry and its agents to withdraw their activities and stay off members’ outlets to forestall breakdown of law and order.

It said the regulation of the midstream and downstream operations rested with the Nigeria Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) under the Petroleum industry Act 2021.

It said the action of the ministry and its agent contravened section 48 (1) of the PIA 2021 which conferred powers of regulation and guideline, enforcement order or directive on NMDPRA.

IPMAN said members were law abiding citizens and would not condone people who are unknown to law to invade, harass or seal outlets as they had done to some marketers in the State.

“These people have started operations, harassing and intimidating our members with security personnel to legalise their operation.

“Their activities are unacceptable to our association as law abiding citizens.

“We are therefore not ready to cooperate with them as they are not the statutory agency created for the petroleum downstream industry as provided in the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

“We shall continue to support your government and would not want to take further action that will result in unnecessary hardship to the people of Anambra,” it said. (NAN)