Fake News: Don’t destabilize oil and gas sector- IPMAN urges Sahara Reporters

By Biola Adebayo On Apr 14, 2023

IPMAN debunks petrol ‘ll sell for N700 per litre

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has urged an online medium, Sahara Reporters to desist from spreading fake news that can create chaos in the oil and gas sector.

The association said the seamless operation of petroleum products supply across the country that has led to the disappearance of long queues should be sustained.

IPMAN Northern Zone Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Danmalam gave the caution in a statement issued on Friday, in Abuja and forwarded to SOLACEBASE.

The statement urged the Department of State Service (DSS) to be vigilant and put a searchlight on effort of organisations like the Sahara Reporters working as a fifth columnist to truncate democracy with unverified stories.

SOLACEBASE recalls that Sahara Reporters recently published a story alleging that the GMD of NNPCL, Mele Kyari and Chief Financial Officer, Ajiya secretly pay themselves billions of naira as gratuities.

The statement said IPMAN as an association has seen several positive changes in the oil and gas sector since the signing of the Petroleum Industrial Act by President Muhammadu Buhari and the commercialization of the NNPC which have led to a lot of transparency in the operation of the NNPC.

‘’The transparency in the operations of NNPC since it was commercialized that led to the organization declaring profit has also being supporting the seamless distribution of petroleum products across the country,’’ the statement said.

IPMAN in the release quoted a statement from the DSS recently while warning people working against the peaceful coexistence of the country, “Be that as it may, the DSS will not tolerate a situation where persons and/or groups take laws into their hands and champion anarchy. Those peddling fake news, hate speech and all forms of false narratives as basis to ignite violence or pit the people against the present or incoming administrations, at the Federal, State and Parliamentary levels, should stop forthwith.

It said the above quotation from the DSS sums up the recent fake news peddled by Sahara reporters when they attacked the management of NNPC limited as a part of the larger grand design to attack the government from all angles and scuttle the inevitable handover of power to a duly elected administration on May 29.

‘’We the members of IPMAN have noted with disgust the attempt by Sahara Reporters on behalf of their co-conspirators to drag NNPCL for their paymasters grand scheme of causing confusion and raising fake alarm in our thriving industry that has been stabilized by the commitment and hardwork of NNPL management.”