No division among Petrol Tanker Drivers leadership — NUPENG President

The National President of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Williams Akporeha, has declared that there is no division in the national leadership of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of the Union.

Comrade Akporeha made the clarification on Thursday while speaking with journalists in Abuja, shortly after Comrade Augustine Egbon and other national officers of the PTD-NUPENG assumed office at the branch national secretariat in Abuja.

Investigation revealed that Comrade Egbon and certain members of the branch emerged as a new set of national officers last Tuesday at the end of the election held in Ibadan, in accordance with the Constitution of NUPENG and Bye-Laws of the Branch, as approved by the National Executive Council of the Union.

Further investigation revealed that the election was a sequel to the judgement of Justice Bashir Alkali of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in the Yenagoa Judicial Division, Bayelsa State, which nullified the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of the NUPENG election held on June 30, 2022, in Ibadan, by NUPENG, where Lucky Osesua had emerged as national chairman.

The NUPENG President, who maintained that there was no faction in PTD-NUPENG, declared that those who were not parties to the election held in Ibadan in accordance with the Union Constitution and Bye-Laws of the Branch could not lay claim to the national secretariat of the Branch.

On the issue of whether there is a faction in the PTD Branch of our Union, the fact that you weren’t part of an election process or just because you refused to contest and then went and declared yourself a winner elsewhere doesn’t mean that there is a faction.

“To me, those are the antics of some desperate persons who wanted to hijack positions by all means, and we have seen their kind of character in the way they attacked the new national officers of the branch last week.

“If not for the grace of God, some of us would not have been here today, but God saved us from their hands, and they will face the wrath of the law for the criminal act they perpetrated. That’s not about elections; that’s not about trade unionism. It is about criminality.

So, I want to say here that, as far as NUPENG is concerned, there is one PTD branch, and the leadership of Comrade Augustine Egbon is the one recognised. I want to use this opportunity to implore Nigerians to ignore any criminal parading himself as the national chairman of PTD or saying he is a member of NUPENG or PTD Branch leadership. We don’t know such people, and we urge stakeholders and Nigerians to cooperate with this team, which we know as the legitimate executive of the Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG.”

Earlier, while addressing newsmen, the new National Chairman of the Branch, Comrade Egbon, also corroborated the NUPENG President on the processes that led to his emergence as national chairman of the branch.

He said The elections that brought my colleagues and me to these positions were carried out on October 31, 2023, at the University of Ibadan Conference Centre, Ibadan, in accordance with the Constitution of NUPENG and the Bye-Laws of our Great Branch as approved by the National Executive Council of the Union.

For the records, in compliance with the judgement delivered by Hon. Justice Bashir A. Alkali of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, in the Yenagoa Judicial Division, held at Yenagoa on Suit No. NICN/YEN/1/2022, which nullified the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG’s election held on June 30, 2022, in Ibadan, Oyo State, the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) convened and peacefully held a special Delegates Conference for the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of NUPENG today.

“The Special Delegates Conference was fully attended by 712 delegates representing 177 units of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG from the four zonal councils of the Union in Warri, Kaduna, Lagos, and Port Harcourt Zones of our great union, NUPENG.”

“The Special Delegates Conference was very peaceful and orderly conducted.
At the end of the well-conducted elections, I, Comrade Augustine Egbon, from the Benin Unit of the Warri Zonal Council of the Union, was duly elected as the National Chairman of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of the Union in accordance with the Bye Law of the Branch and Constitution of the Union.

“Other officers who were elected after the elections are here with me in this office today, and I want to assure all our members across the country, critical stakeholders, and the general public that there is no division at all in our union and the branch; our solidarity remains constant because we know that Workers United can never be defeated.”

The General Secretary of NUPENG, Wale Afolabi, also disclosed that the displaced executive was not in the dark on the resolution to conduct a fresh election in accordance with the verdict of Justice Bashir Alkali.

He recalled that the National Executive Committee of the Union invited the former Branch leadership to a meeting where it was briefed on its resolution to conduct a fresh election in accordance with the outcome of the Court judgement, and a five-caretaker committee was put in place after the dissolution of the executive to pave the way for a fresh election.

“On July 26, an emergency NEC meeting of the Union was convened on the judgement. We invited all members of the former Branch Administrative Council whose elections were nullified to a meeting to brief them on the judgement, the NEC decision to accept the judgement, the dissolution, and the names of the Caretaker/Election Organising Committee to oversee the affairs of the Branch and organise the elections.”

“Similarly, on September 20, in Asaba, the Branch Executive Council of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of the Union was called by the Caretaker Committee to brief the Council on the affairs of the Branch, take reports from the Units and Zones, and take decisions on the election date, venue, and election guidelines from the National Secretariat. Guidelines were adopted and released with nomination forms.”

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