Despite a presidential warning to petroleum products marketers to desist from hoarding the commodities, most fuel marketers in parts of the country have defied the order, as some filling stations remained shut, while there were long queues at some.

The refusal of petrol stations to sell to motorists was fuelled by fears that the planned deregulation of prices of petroleum products was to commence by 1 November, this year, though the Federal Government has dismissed such as speculative.

P.M. News correspondents observed, this morning, in Lagos a few petrol stations that still refused to dispense fuel to buyers.

The Total filling station in Ojodu was not selling fuel, even though P.M. News learnt the station received supplies from several tankers late yesterday.

Others that refused to sell include, Texaco and Conoil filling stations on College Road as well as FUMEC petrol station all in the Ogba area.

Only kerosene was being sold at Conoil, while FUMEC only sold diesel.

A staff of the FUMEC station, who refused to give his name, said they stopped selling Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, as a result of some mechanical fault on their machines.

He claimed that following government’s directives, there was no way they could have continued hoarding the products.

P.M. News, however, observed that some other petrol stations, that earlier closed shop over the weekend, were now selling at the official N65 per litre.

Such filling stations include Diamond Pearls along Acme Road, Asmart along Akilo Road and Total near the Omole Estate Phase I.

The Federal Government had yesterday read the riot act to hoarders of the products, warning that defaulters would face stiff sanctions.

Handing down the warning, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, said the government would not fold its arms and watch a few individuals unleash untold suffering on motorists in the guise of fuel scarcity.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday warned that the planned deregulation of the downstream sector could worsen inflation level in the economy.

Rising from a meeting of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja, Sanusi reiterated that the deregulation policy, if carried through, could up the year-on-year inflation which stood at 10.4 per cent as of September, this year.

“The committee observed that while inflation has decelerated, it is important to recognise that seasonal factors and the planned deregulation of the prices of petroleum products pose a major risk to inflation outlook in the near to medium term,” stated the CBN boss.