By Amos Tauna
Members of Association of Mega Filling Station Owners of Nigeria, AMFSON, have concluded plans to embark on peaceful protest to shut down headquarters of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja.
The filling station owners, had in a letter addressed to the Group Managing Director, GMD, of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, notified him of their intention to embark on the protest.
The letter which was made available to journalists in Kaduna Sunday, said the mass protest has become necessary in view of alleged, “Persistent and gross abuse of office by top management staff of the NNPC Retail limited vis-a-vis the terms of engagement with our members.”
The letter dated July 11, signed by the National Secretary of the association, Kenneth Nwachukwu, explained that the alleged abuse of office had inflicted untold hardship on its members and the general public.
It also copied Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu for his information and necessary action.
“We have hereby resolved to embark on a peaceful pubic protest.
“We have finally resolved to explore this process of public protest to further drive home our points with the hope of bringing the issue to the attention of both the authorities and the general public.
“The protest is scheduled to take place next month in Abuja at the Eagle Square through the federal secretariat complex to the NNPC Towers.
“We consider it necessary embarking on this action due to the fact that we have already exhausted all peaceful reconciliatory means.
“We have taken several diplomatic measures to ensure that we resolve the problem amicably but it has always proved abortive.
“This can only be attributed to the attitude of these officials in collaboration with the Head of the Downstream.
“You will recall that we even wrote to you on at least three occasions seeking for audience in order to intimate you on our ordeal but we only got a response once.
“That was an invitation to meet with the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Downstream, and even then, after allowing our members to travel down to Abuja for the meeting from different parts of the country, he wilfully absented himself without any form of apology.
“Our members felt greatly humiliated during that incident,” the letter explained.
