Three days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced a suspension of the fuel subsidy regime, long queues have resurfaced in most fuel stations in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
Vehicle owners could be observed frantically scrambling for available spaces at some fuel stations as they engaged in panic buying.
This is coming despite the warning by the Osun State Government to marketers not heard Premium Motor Spirit, PMS.
The government revealed that it had credible information that some petroleum markers were planning to hoard the product, adding that doing so was unpatriotic and an act of sabotage.
It also maintained that the Special Monitoring Team on fuel scarcity was still effective and would not hesitate to use its powers.
President Tinubu had on Monday, during his inauguration, announced the suspension of the fuel subsidy regime.
Tinubu argued that his reason for axing the regime is that it is no longer sustainable in Nigeria at this time.
Newsmen gathered that operatives of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, on Tuesday temporarily sealed up Oduoye fuel station Fakunle Area for attempting to sell fuel above N250.
It took the intervention of customers for the DPR to unseal the station and allow for business.
Long queues were also observed at fuel stations like Adolak and Matrix along the Gbongan-Ibadan road, Osogbo.
A customer, Jamiu Mohammed, said most of the fuel stations he visited, he observed off-and-on the selling of petrol.
“I noticed that they will sell fuel, and after a while, they we’ll stop and await further instructions from their bosses.
“Customers were just going from one fuel station to the other looking for the product and this is what led to panic buying among the buyers,” he said.
A commercial transporter, Wasiu Akintunde, revealed that he had no choice but to join his colleagues in the queue to buy petrol for his vehicle.
“Most of my colleagues are in queues at filling stations where they would get the commodity at the official price before it eventually goes up.
“All we ask for is respite whenever fuel subsidy is removed. We do not want more hardship than what we are currently experiencing,” he said.
Steven Adeleke said he was in haste to get petrol for his vehicle to beat the expected increase in the pump price.
“It is going to increase. When it does, at least I will have some quantity available for use before I start to feel the impact negative or positive,” he said.