Our correspondent gathered that the fuel crisis, which suddenly surfaced on Friday, was triggered by the leadership crisis within the Oke-Ogun, Saki branch of the Petrol Tanker Drivers Union, PTD, in Oyo State.

Confirmed sources in Ilorin disclosed that the outgoing chairman of the body seeking another term in office, refused to step down as suggested by members of the union.

Consequently, the tanker drivers were asked not to go to the Oke-Ogun area anymore until the leadership crisis is resolved.

“However, one of the drivers diverted fuel supply meant for Ilorin to Oke-Ogun.

“This resulted in the sanction by the Lagos branch of PTD not to supply Ilorin with fuel until the leadership crisis is resolved,” the source added.

The blockage of fuel supply to Ilorin has sparked long queues in few fuel stations with some stock.

The filling stations have also capitalised on the situation to hike the pump price from N179 and N190 per litre to N220 or N230 per litre.

The hike in price by the fuel stations has also led to increase in transport fares within the Ilorin metropolis as operators of commercial taxi cabs, Keke Napep and Okada motorcyclists complain bitterly about the frustration they encounter in purchasing fuel to power their machines.

Officials of the Ilorin branch of Petrol Tanker Drivers Union could not be reached as of the time of this report.