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Dirty Fuel, Fuel Scarcity, NorthWest Filling Station In Water For Fuel Scam, De Ja Vu Of An Amoral Country

Published

3 years ago

Feb 21, 2022.

Over the past few days, footage of an aggrieved Instagram skit maker, Ashmusy, narrating her ordeal at NorthWest filling station, Ilaje, has saturated social media.

In the video, Ashmusy recounts how certain personnel of the highly respected gas station sold water under the guise of petrol to her alongside other unwary customers.

She was not the only victim of this water-for-petrol scheme, as there were other victims of this callous, inhuman and despicable act that has left unsuspecting Lagosians with huge financial and emotional loss.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZ1ESPBlyH1/?utm_medium=copy_link

She said: “The petrol station attendants are scammers.”

“My car has stopped, apparently flooded by water sold instead of gas, and I am not the only victim,” she said.

According to her, some of the victims of this calculated scam have experienced differing degrees of car failure due to the adulterated petrol sold to them.

This incident, ironically speaking, comes at a time when several Nigerians have been calling for heads to roll over the importation of ethanol-laden dirty fuel that has led to fuel scarcity across the country.

Indeed, this story is one we are all too familiar with: different cast, different location, but the same script.

The story undoubtedly encapsulates the rot in our society, the brazen and desperate act of Nigerians to perpetrate crime for monetary gratification.

This is a story of a nation with audacious impunity, a story of a country with no consequences for bad behaviour.

This is the story of a nation where virtually the entire population, both the leaders and the followers, are becoming rogues.

This is the story of a nation where indiscipline has become the prevalent way of life, and corruption has become so endemic to the degree that it has now been normalised.

Ours has become a society where teenagers are culpable of the most horrific and heinous crimes due to a culture that has promoted flamboyance and ostentation while such values as hard work, patience, and no longer hold sway.

These despicable acts continue unabated, and the perpetrators are becoming more emboldened day by day for the absence of punitive measures commensurable to the heinous crimes.

In truth, having the Nigeria of our dreams; a Nigeria where our leaders enthrone service above gratification; a Nigeria where civic duty trumps parochial interests; a Nigeria where the broken shards of our commonalities are forged to produce a strong composite whole is a desire deeply etched in the heart of Nigeria Nigerian.

The only pathway to attain the nation of our desire is to change our mindsets as we all bear responsibility for the demise or prosperity of this nation.

The love and the patriotism to our dear nation are sacrosanct and the most assured pathway to the Nigeria of our desire.

The Nigeria of our imagination is where such a heinous and despicable act must be matched with an equally unbiased prosecutorial process.

The law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies must be on top of their games to stamp out the trend of impunity that has often trailed the commission of these heinous crimes.

It s only when this natural order of cause and effect is allowed to hold sway that we can expect to deter would-be offenders and send out a laconic warning that it will no longer be business as usual.

In the case of Northwest petrol station, here are some mind-boggling posers: How did the water get into the petrol station reservoir?

How can the filling station claim not to have been aware of the presence of water?

Who would be responsible for the damages to the vehicles?

Is any investigation currently being carried out to get to the bottom of the case, and has any arrest been made?

The police and the EFCC must act swiftly and decisively to ensure this despicable act is addressed; otherwise, a vast majority of motorists will face the grave danger of having their vehicles veer off the character at very critical moments.

This must not be characteristically swept under the rug.

The scenario, in many ways, will echo as a litmus test to check our collective resolve towards meting out due punishment to unscrupulous elements whose knavery continues to ridicule our name among the comity of nations.

Lagosians are waiting.

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