Election fever gets Nigerians queuing for fuel, cash

Fear of the unknown, and what may happen as the nation goes to the polls on Saturday has sent many Nigerians running to the filling stations, and bank ATM points.

There were queues at most filling stations in the Lagos vicinity that had the product, as many motorists embarked on panic buying of the product. This prompted some marketers to jack up the price of PMS (petrol) to N100 per litre.

And at ATM points in most parts of the city, long queues were also noticed, as people thronged the banks to withdraw cash, in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

Earlier reports had indicated that massive withdrawal of cash from Deposit Money Banks by politicians and their associates in preparation for the elections has led to shortage of cash across bank branches in the country.

It was gathered that several billions of naira had left the banking system between December last year and this month as different political parties spent huge amounts on their campaigns.

The NNPC has called on the public to shun panic buying and stock-piling of petrol as there is enough stock of the product to keep the country wet for two months

But the NUPENG, on Thursday in Lagos, blamed the fuel scarcity across the country on alleged sabotage by fuel marketers and depot owners, even as it did not absolve the Federal Government and the NNPC from blame.

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