By Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Cross River state chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN), Comrade Robert Obi, has raised the alarm over police incessant harassment of its leaders, threatening that the association would not hesitate to shut down all the Easern zone depots and petrol stations in Calabar, Port Harcourt and Enugu depots.
Obi said the decision to close all the stations was reached at after series of meetings with some stakeholders on the new alleged moves by the Police Legal Force headquarters, Abuja to arrest its executives across the zone and possibly install factional leadership, which could lead to another round of crisis in the association in spite of various court pronouncements laying the matter to rest.
The South East zone of IPMAN, which comprises of Enugu, Aba, Rivers, Cross River and Benue states with over 40 depots and 1, 000 petrol stations with about 2, 000 members, has been having a running battle with officers of the Nigeria Police Force over alleged attempts by the police to foist a factional leadership for association’s chapters.
For quite some years now, IPMAN has been factionlised between Chiefs Obasi Lawson and Elfer Chinedu Okoronkwo all from Abia state, leading to series of litigations. However, the litigations culminated in the Supreme Court judgment in Suit No SC/15/2018 delivered on December 14, 2018 and its subsequent interpretation by Federal High Court Calabar dated June 19, 2019, which recognised automatic succession of the Deputy National President, Alh Sanusi Abdu Fari, as National President of IPMAN, based on 1997 constitution of the association as against of one Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo. Alh Sanusi Abdu Fari was in Chief Obasi Lawson’s faction.
Following that judgment, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had in a letter dated January 4, 2019 and sent to Rivers IPMAN Chairman led by Chief Richard Orianwo, acknowledged and congratulated Alh Sanusi Fari as the President of IPMAN following Supreme Court judgment.
He, therefore, advised “the association and all parties to abide by the Supreme Court and the Federal High Court interpretation on the matter and condemned any acts of contempt of court and the attendant proactive disputes that are escalating tensions and violence in the host community and thus threatening lives and property by any member or organ of IPMAN.” This letter was also copied to Elder Chinesu Okoronkwo.
In the same vein, the Hon Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timiore Sylva, in a letter dated January 27, 2020 congratulated Engr Sanusi Abdu Fari and promised to work with the new leadership.
The letter read in part: “The judgments of the Federal High Court, Calabar dated June 19, 2019 as to the tenure of the erstwhile National President, Chief Obasi Lawson, and the automatic succession of the Deputy National President, Alh Sanusi Abdu Fari, as the National President, is noted.”
The legal department of Inspector-General of Police headed by CP Daso Oruebo followed suit and advised police to recognise the leadership of Alh Fari and withdraw from the occupation of national secretariat in Abuja in compliance with the court orders which incidentally should be extended to other branches having emerged from the same process. The police had since complied.
But trouble seems to be brewing again in IPMAN following a new twist to the interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment by the new Police Commissioner, Legal Force headquarters, Abuja, DCP Ochogwu Ogbeh, W.A, who had in a letter dated May 13, 2022 advised the Inspector-General of Police to recognise the Chinedu Okorornkwo-led faction of IPMAN and subsequently accord them necessary attention at the national headquarters and in the affected states.
In the letter describing the Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo-led executives as “the judgment creditors,” DCP Ochogwu Ogbeh advised “all litigants in the disputes, who submitted to the jurisdiction of the Court to respect the outcome of the decision and comply with Court orders, most especially as this decision is coming from the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.”
Reacting to DCP Ochogwu Ogbeh interpretation of the Supreme Court and Appeal Courts judgment and advise in an interview in Calabar, the Cross River state Chairman of IPMAN, Comrade Robert Asue Obi, described Police action as an invitation to anarchy, threatening that the association would not hesitate to shut down all depots in the eastern zone and close petrol stations owned their thousands of members in protest against police undue harassment of the leadership and interference in their affairs.
Obi frowns at the illegal moves by the police authourities and some disgruntled elements to either misinterpret the Supreme Court ruling or subvert the will of the people and subsequently impose their cronies on the association even when the facts of the matter are very clear.
He explained that the Attorney general of the Federation, AGF’s letter, copied to Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo and his faction, who lost out at the Supreme Court, had acknowledged Alh Sanusi Fari as authentic National President of IPMAN as well as his Depot/Unit chairmen.
“Following the legal advice, the police are putting all arsenals to arrest the current executives of IPMAN in Nigeria, particularly in Calabar NNPC depot and allegedly hand them over to the people of their choice. IPMAN warns that if any further step for the Police to interfere with the current leadership of the association headed by Alh. Debo Ahmed, as national president, and that of my office, we would shut down the distribution channels of petroleum and allied products in Nigeria pending the when the police return to their senses.
“IPMAN leadership has resolved to continue with their rights in the constitution and abide by the extant laws and subsisting judgments of the courts in their favour.”
Describing the recent police interpretation as travesty of justice, the counsel to Alh. Ahmed Debo-led IPMAN, Daniel Enegu Mgbe, regretted that the Police under the watch IGP decided to be misled by its legal unit headed by DCP Ochogwu Ogbeh in defiance of the position of the Attorney General of the federation.
Mbge recalled that CP Daso Josaih Oruebo and IGP had confirmed the same legal advice of Attorney general of the federation on a memo dated June24, 2021, insisting that the Police authourities have no constitutional powers to neither reverse the AGF legal advice nor usurp his constitutional duties, adding that any attempt by the Police to override he the legal advice of AGF amount to trying to lock horns with the law officer of the federation.
He stated that Section 15 of Sheriffs and Civil Process Act 2004 clearly spelt out the functions of the under Section 4 of Police Act 2020.
