Officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Lagos sealed-up a fuel station located along Lagos/Abeokuta expressways for allegedly dispensing water as petrol to motorists.

Witnesses told our Correspondent at the fuel station that the fraudulent action of the petrol station management allegedly damaged over 12 vehicle engines, because their petrol tanks were criminally filled with water.

A source said the fuel station, which is alleged to be a family business, was first named, General Oil petrol station. “When their father died, there was tussle in the family over the man’s property and the petrol station happened to be one of the properties in contention,” an attendant confided in our Correspondent.

It was also gathered that since the demise of its founding owner, the station has had to change name thrice. “First it was General petrol station, Iwa petrol station and presently IYT petrol station. It is the wife of the late founder that is presently managing the place. Let me also say this, that even the woman and children are not in talking terms because, the woman would not allow the children go close to their father’s properties.”

One of the affected motorists, Rotimi Dorujaiye, the immediate past Editor of the Daily Independent and presently the Executive Editor of the Nigerian NewsDirect, who lost the engine of his Nissan Sunny salon car with registration number GGE 68 AR to the water pumped into his vehicle tank, instead of petrol, is still battling for the soul of his vehicle at the time of this report.

Speaking to our Correspondent in a telephone interview, Dorujaiye, said initially when the attention of the fuel attendants at the station was drawn to the fact that the substance pumped into their vehicle’s fuel tanks was water and not petrol, “the petrol attendants claimed I was lying, until when all the vehicles affected could no longer start.”

He said, a mechanic has to be brought in to assist in draining water out of their vehicle fuel tanks. “That took my whole day, throughout that day, I could not do anything else apart from trying to salvage my vehicle engine. As I am talking to you now, mechanics are still battling to rescue the car. It is a very sad development and I just hope the relevant authority would do something drastic about it before other innocent motorists would get their vehicles engines damaged too,” Dorujaiye stated.

Another victim, Boniface Isok, who is the National President of the Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees Union, got the engine of his Toyota Prado Jeep damaged too. The engine of the vehicle with registration number LAS 769 AY, is allegedly ‘knocked’.

Another vehicle, a Faragon commercial bus marked Lagos XU 884 AKD, was also damaged and the owner of the vehicle has vowed that except the station is sealed, “he may take law into his hands.”

When our Correspondent visited the controversial fuel station, the seal and yellow tape of the DPR/NNPC was conspicuous as it is used to barricade the two entrance of the station. None of the management staff of the station was available for comment. But a source within the attendants told our correspondent that the development took the owners of the station unawares.