TheCable

The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) says there is no faction in its Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) union.

Speaking with reporters on Thursday in Abuja, Williams Akporeha, the president of NUPENG, alleged that “desperate people” are trying to take charge of PTD, adding that “they should be ignored”.

Akporeha’s comment came after violence broke out at the NUPENG’s headquarters in Abuja.

Lucky Osesua, former national chair of the PTD, and Dayyabu Garga, his deputy, were remanded in prison last week over an alleged attack on Williams Akporeha, NUPENG’s president and other executives of the union.

Osesua and his deputy, now facing alleged murder, homicide, attempted arson, and destruction counts failed to recognise the new leadership of PTD, a development that led to the violence.

“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 go and declare yourself a winner elsewhere doesn’t mean that there is a faction,” the NUPENG president said.

“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 the election, that’s not about trade unionism. It is about criminality.

“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 recognized.

“I want to use this opportunity to implore Nigerians to ignore any criminal going parading himself as national chairman of PTD or saying he is a member of NUPENG or PTD branch leadership.

“We don’t know such kind of persons 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.”

On his part, Egbon said the election that saw him become PTD’s chair was in line with an order of the court.