By Rotimi Ojomoyela

Ado-Ekiti—The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), a regulatory body for petroleum activities in Nigeria has backed Governor Ayo Fayose on his recent clampdown on some fuel marketers in the state which has resulted in his revocation of the licenses of some of them who were found to have violated regulations guiding the location of petrol stations.

Frowning at the development, an Official Comptroller of DPR, Mr Wale Oseni, who led the DPR team to Government House in Ado-Ekitin state capital, expressed displeasure at the seemingly arbitrary manner in which some marketers have sited their petrol stations in the state.

Oseni, who revealed that his team was already beaming its searchlight on the activities of the petrol marketers in the state, cited a petrol station currently under construction in Adehun Area of Ado-Ekiti, as one of those against the regulations of the body and revealed that the station in question  failed to inform the DPR of its operation.

Describing the act as criminal, he noted that the owner tactfully covered up the construction work  away from the public knowledge until it is completed, noting that such was unacceptable.

Oseni noted that retail outlets are not supposed to be cited close to schools particularly if the schools had been in existence before the filling stations.

Explaining the rationale behind his government’s recent clampdown on marketers said to have violated the DPR’s regulations, Governor Fayose disclosed that part of the efforts of the State government was to expose to the DPR, some alleged unwholesome under-dealings being perpetrated by some marketers.

According to the governor, the construction of the filling station at the Adehun Area of Ado-Ekiti was stopped by his government because it was being built on water ways after the last administration had demolished structures on the same land to ensure safety of lives and property.

Meantime, trouble looms in Ekiti as oil marketers under the auspices of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria,IPMAN, has ordered stoppage of fuel supply to the state to protest the demolition of petrol stations by the government.