National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other aid workers at the scene of a suicide attack in Maiduguri on Friday Photo: Ali Baba Inuwa/BJO/
The Borno Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC), today revealed that the three tankers destroyed by three female suicide bombers in Maiduguri on Friday, carried petrol meant for Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega stations.
But the petrol was diverted and kept in a private home.
The Commandant of the Corps, Abdullahi Ibrahim, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, on Saturday in Maiduguri.
Ibrahim stated that the agency’s surveillance anti-vandal team had uncovered that the petrol was meant for NNPC mega stations but was diverted and hidden in a private home on Damboa Road in Maiduguri.
He stated that the incident could not have happened if the petrol had been taken to its destination by the petroleum marketers.
“It was unfortunate that some individuals were hell bent in diverting petroleum products to create artificial scarcity in the town.
“Those tankers destroyed by three female suicide bombers were meant to be in filling stations to meet local demands of motorists.
” We have been warning them against diversion but they won’t listen. Just last week we arrested about four persons and sealed their filling stations for selling the petrol above pump price.
“We learnt that there is a deliberate plan to create artificial scarcity in the town by hiding the product to make it scarce.
“This development is not only anti- people but also a threat to the lives and security of the good people of the state.
” We therefore warn marketers and petroleum marketers to desist from hiding and diverting petrol in their homes or face the wrath of the law,”stated Ibrahim.