Some officials of the Nigerian Army, on Monday, took over the Ojodu Berger outlet of Capital Oil filling station, buying petroleum products in drums, after scaring away thousands of other consumers who had duly queued.
The armed personnel came first under the guise of helping to maintain peace and orderliness at the filling station, but they soon abandoned that for fuel racketeering.
They shoved, maltreated and sent away those who were on the queue to be attended to, thereby gaining access to have their drums loaded with fuel.
As of 8:50pm, the unregistered white Isuzu truck they were using had visited the filling station for the fourth time. The vehicle, on each visit, left with at least 14 drums and dozens of gallons filled with fuel.
The other helpless consumers, some of who slept at the filling station, suspected the soldiers were feeding the growing Lagos black market with the product.
Meanwhile, the rampaging soldiers had taken over the only two pumps that dispensed the Premium Motor Spirit, at the filling station while those who protested their action were beaten.
Consumers, who had spent the entire day at the filling station without being able to buy the product described the announcement by Ifeanyi Uba, Capital Oil chairman, as a publicity stunt.
By 9pm on Monday, not more than a hundred cars left the filling station with fuel. In the meantime, the military, officials of the Nigeria Police Force and black market dealers took over the show while thousands of motorists who had crowded the place since 5am were left unattended.
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