PTD Faults NUPENG, Says Plot to Instigate Crisis Ahead Upcoming Conference Will Fail

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Members across the four zones of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), have warned against the alleged plan by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to instigate crisis ahead of the forthcoming delegates’ conference.

The Union’s reaction was articulated on behalf of the concerned PTD members by Lawrence Mowetei and Princewill Damiari from the Port Harcourt zone.
In a jointly signed statement yesterday, they  urged the leadership of NUPENG to stop misleading the public and discontinue fantasising about taking over the PTD by force especially with a recent newspaper publication.
They maintained that the plot to instigate a crisis in the forthcoming PTD delegates’ conference and truncate the will of the people has not only been exposed but has also failed.

“The judgment in NICN/ABJ/312/2023 nullified all the elections conducted both in Abuja and Ibadan. Also, the national executives of PTD which means all the acts of the executives from November 1, 2023, to May 29, 2024, were all a nullity.
“In line with the judgement, NUPENG has flagrantly refused to recall all the PTD members which they illegally suspended from their respective positions. NUPENG has also not reconciled all warring parties and opposition in PTD.

“The suspended members have not been allowed to return to PTD and their respective positions before the illegal suspension. Their personal businesses have been under siege: filling stations have been grounded, and their trucks not allowed to load at all depots across the country,” the group said.
The PTD members alleged that the list of delegates published have names of persons that are dead and buried, in the mortuary and those who are no longer in office because they have completed their terms in office.

“In the history of the PTD elections and every election in the world, there is always a campaign. PTD should be allowed to campaign for candidates of their choice, not a Kangaroo candidate already packaged by some ‘godfathers’ in NUPENG.
“No form of screening was made in the four zones nationwide by the electoral committee, suggesting that they already have anointed candidates in mind.
“NUPENG has shown deep-rooted interest and bias in the PTD election and as such we call on the court to appoint a neutral body to be members of the electoral committee and conduct the election.

“People such as past national chairmen of PTD, former NUPENG presidents and their deputies the registrar of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) Abuja, under the strict supervision of the Department of State Service and Ministry of Labour should (oversee the election),” the PTD members argued.