Less than 24 hours that President Bola Tinubu announced that “fuel subsidy is gone,” petrol stations in Ondo have continued to witness long queues.

Peoples Gazette observed a few stations selling fuel Tuesday morning while others shut their gates.

In Akure, stranded motorists made frantic efforts to buy fuel.

It was the same situation in Owo, Ikare, Ondo town, Idanre, Ore and other major areas in the state.

Motorists told The Gazette they rushed to the stations to fill their tanks when Mr Tinubu announced that the fuel subsidy had “gone,” claiming the new president’s announcement created panic buying and accused filling stations of hoarding fuel.

“The queue you’re seeing this morning is as a result of the announcement by the new president (Tinubu) that fuel subsidy has been removed,” Biola Adenegan, queuing at a petrol station in the Sebi area of Akure.

Many filling stations sell petrol between N250 and N300 per litre in Ondo, according to The Gazette’s survey Tuesday morning.

In Ikare Akoko, it was gathered that the only station open to customers sold petrol at N250 per litre.

In Akure, Northwest Petrol Station, located in the Sebi area, sold fuel at N195 per litre as long queues formed on the road.

The situation was not different at an annexe of the NNPC station in the Shagari area, as the entrance to the filling station witnessed a surge of commercial vehicles, especially motorcycles.

Kunle Adewale, chairman of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), in Ondo, attributed the long queues and scarcity to the non-availability of petrol at the depot.

Mr Adewale noted that people would have to endure the “scarcity and prices” until the federal government states its position on the official petrol price.

“Many of us (marketers) have been at the depot to get petrol for the past two weeks now, and we couldn’t get it. The scarcity had been on before the new president announced removing the fuel subsidy,” the NUPENG chair told The Gazette.

He added, “So, it’s the few available ones that we have already that we would sell to buy another one. And it would be difficult to sell at the old price because it’s also getting difficult to get the product and stock too.”

Mr Adewale pointed out that the marketers “don’t know the price that the new government would ask Nigerians to pay for fuel since subsidy has been removed now.”