The leadership crisis rocking the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) is threatening petrol supply in the country as the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) an affiliate of NUPENG have threatened to break away from NUPENG and embark on a protest.
Their grouse is linked with the refusal of Williams Akporeha, NUPENG’s current President; and Afolabi Olawale, General-Secretary to resign as they demanded.
In a statement on Sunday, Gbenga Olawale, ex-officio of the PTD, Ibadan depot, said their members would begin a nationwide protest to press home their demands.
Olawale said Akporeha is not a member of NUPENG and as such, lacks the competence to lead the union.
He claimed that Akporeha was drafted into petrol station workers of NUPENG (PSW) to enable him to contest the election as NUPENG president which was a departure from the NUPENG constitution.
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“Williams is not a worker or a pump attendant on record as at the time he was verifying for the president position,” the statement said.
Olawale also accused Akporeha of planting his surrogates to collect all union revenue which was not used for the development of the association and tanker drivers.
The ex-officio called for a fresh election as members of the PTD have decided to stand with Lucky Osusan and Dayyabu Garga to be the new NUPENG president and general-secretary, respectively.
Olawale added that they decided to support Osusan and Garga because they had sacrificed so much to ensure that their members were free from all kinds of extortion.
The statement, therefore, directed PTD members across the country to move with leaves in front of their trucks to serve as a warning to NUPENG and police against interference and incessant harassment of their leaders.
On November 4, Osesua, a former national chair of the PTD, and Garba, his deputy, were remanded in prison over an alleged assault on Akporeha.
The duo were remanded to a correctional centre in Keffi, Nasarawa state, by a magistrate in the federal capital territory (FCT).
NUPENG later said there was no faction in its PTD union, thereby denying the possibility of an internal crisis within the association.