Edo/Delta IPMAN crisis threatens fuel supply

[Mirror]

Fuel shortage seems to be looming in Edo and Delta states as the leadership crisis rocking the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, deepened at the weekend.

At the centre of the crisis is the Acting Chairman of IPMAN, Mid-West Zone, comprising Edo and Delta states, Elder Solomon Ogbeiwi, who has been accused of perpetuating himself in office and seeking continuation through the National Executive Committee of the association in Abuja, instead of submitting himself to a free, fair and credible election after five years in office.

At the weekend, opposing camps held different meetings at different places in Benin, where they vowed not to compromise on an election said to have voted Ogbeiwi out of office.

Thereafter, Ogbeiwi allegedly ran to the national IPMAN leadership to annul the said election.

Speaking after his group's meeting at Excalibur Hotel, Ogbeiwi, a Benin High Chief, whose tenure was said to have expired since December 2012, said he did not recognise the said election.

He said he was only aware that IPMAN NEC had approved his chairmanship for another term.

At the meeting, the National Vice-President of IPMAN, Mr. Chinedu Okonkowo and other national leaders, supported Ogbeiwi's claim.

The national leaders brandished a 2009 amended version of IPMAN constitution to back their support for Ogbeiwi.

But speaking after the newly elected executive committee's meeting held at a filing station on Benin -Agbor Expressway, the Zone Public Relations Officer, Mr. Fred Ufua, said the national executive officers of IPMAN conspired with Ogbeiwi and thwarted election last year so as to impose him on the association.

He added that stakeholders insisted and went ahead to organise an election in which Ogbeiwi was voted out.

According to Ufua, who gave copies of IPMAN constitution of 1983 and its amendments to the media, the amended constitution which the national executive officers applied to perpetuate Ogbeiwi in office was yet to be signed into law by the association as it had remained a subject of litigation since its production.

National Mirror