State officials are extorting money from us – LPG Marketers

This revelation comes a day after the Association suspended the sale of LPG products

Vice Chairman of the LPG Marketers Association, Gabriel Kumi, has said their decision to suspend operations nationwide, is to protest what they consider as unfair treatment by authorities.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Kumi alleged that, some state officials, including assembly members, have been extorting money from LPG Marketers across the country, since the deadly Atomic Gas explosion, and the subsequent directives from government to sanitize the sector.

This revelation comes a day after the Association suspended the sale of LPG products across the country, with the excuse that they are carrying out maintenance works on their facilities.

However, many have said the shutdown is a deliberate move to frustrate the supply of gas, considering that the LPG Marketers have vehemently kicked against Government’s approach towards ensuring safety in the sector following the Atomic Junction explosion.

Mr. Kumi indicated that, some stations are even facing a threat of closure by the assembly members who are supposedly extorting money from them. “We have assembly men going round our stations that they want to close it down. There is a whole extortion business going on by this team.”

The Association’s members, some of who shutdown from Wednesday, October 19, have not indicated when it will allow members resume regular operations. The Association had indicated that, the closure was to allow for a safety audit.

Mr. Kumi has however clarified that, the move is primarily a response to government’s decision to close down some high risk fuel stations.

“This is as a result of the measures being taken by the authorities to close down our stations. If an accident has occurred, we feel that who else should prevail?We have identified what the problems are; so let’s deal with the problems, but we have the authorities going round, closing down our stations, extorting monies from our members, and we feel that this is a very unfair treatment. We are just reacting to what the authorities are doing. We are putting together a maintenance team.”