Petrol Tanker Drivers Say No Plan to Sabotage FG, Exit NUPENG

Emmanuel Addeh in  Abuja

The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) union yesterday said it had no plans to exit its parent organisation, the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

The organisation also stated that it would not be part of any decision to sabotage the Bola Tinubu administration by embarking on an industrial action that would result in the disruption of petroleum products across the country.

Speaking in Abuja during a solidarity visit to the incumbent chair of the union, Augustine Egbon, the forum of former national chairmen led by Mr. John Ossai  affirmed their support for the new leader.

There had been some differences within the union, following the emergence of Egbon and other new national officers at the  special delegates’ conference of the  PTD in Ibadan, Oyo State, last October.

The fresh election was sequel to the judgement of Justice Bashar Alkali of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in the Yenagoa Judicial Division, Bayelsa State.

Ossai, who led other ex-leaders to the Abuja headquarters of the PTD, maintained that NUPENG would continue to play its leadership position in the affairs of the PTD branch.

“We are proud of the election that our mother union, NUPENG  handled, which produced the new leadership and that is why we are paying a courtesy call on our new national chairman.

“I want to use this opportunity to call on  all the branch units of PTD nationwide to pledge their loyalty to the new leadership. The fight by those calling  themselves faction  is uncalled  for and driven by self-interest. 

We won’t accept it. NUPENG and PTD are one.

“Today, the union is more refined. The PTD won’t break away from NUPENG for any reason. I am appealing to all the members to be law abiding and be loyal to their national chairman and NUPENG. That’s the flag  we have been flying,” Ossai stated.

Also speaking, a former national chair of PTD, Mr. Tijani Zubair, described the new national chairman as a bridge builder and peacemaker whose leadership, he said, would address the demands of the union for better welfare for tanker drivers and good roads for haulage of products

Zubair cautioned against the call for a strike by the aggrieved group, noting that any strike action would amount to a deliberate plot to sabotage the Tinubu administration.

“We are here to pay a solidarity visit to the new chairman, Egbon. He is an honest chairman who worked with me while I was a national chairman. He is a peacemaker and I am sure he will solve many of the problems we are facing, like bad federal roads and  get a good welfare package for tanker drivers. 

“My appeal to those who aren’t happy with the election is that they should forgive and forget. They should give peace a chance. They should give support to the new leadership. The government  of Nigeria needs peace and if there is no peace, investment won’t come to Nigeria,” he stated.

While welcoming the visitors, the new chairman, Egbon, assured them that his leadership would continue to cement the existing warm relationship with NUPENG and avoid any action that would threaten the peace in the downstream sector of the oil industry.

“I am very happy because I can feel the support of the  ex-national chairmen of this union. These are the people we served. They were there in Ibadan when we held our election.

“This shows that all the past national chairmen of PTD are with us. Without NUPENG, PTD can’t stand. We are not going back on our support,  no matter what. NUPENG is our father.

“We also pledge our support to the government. We won’t allow any group to sabotage this government under the guise of being members of PTD-NUPENG. Anybody that calls for strike in PTD or NUPENG illegally, we will hand them over to law enforcement agencies. We will never support any illegality,” he stated.