PTD Crisis Escalates As Protesters Back Osesua-Led Leadership

• Block factional Chairman PTD Lagos Zone, Adigun from entering Ejigbo depot

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT – It is not the best of times for the factional Chairman of Lagos Zone of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of NUPENG, Saheed Gbolahan Adigun as protesters on Thursday prevented his entourage from gaining entry to the NNPC depot in Lagos.

Effectively blocking the entrance to the facility, the protesters said they are no longer ready to honour the leadership of Augustine Egbon, for allegedly being a betrayer and also someone who has made slaves in the hands of their parent body (NUPENG).

Identified as loyalists of the Comrade Lucky Osesua and Comrade Dayyabu Yusuf Garga faction of PTD, the protesting PTD members also condemned the obvious bias by armed security personnel who visited the facility, claiming that any case of accidental discharge on Thursday or pulling of the trigger by an impulsive operative could have aggravated the already tensed situation at the depot.

Besides, they also accused Adigun of trying to impose an unwanted Caretaker Committee on them on Thursday instead of endorsing the conduct of fresh elections to herald a new leadership at the unit in line with existing guidelines in the Branch.

Additionally, Adigun is being fingered in an alleged plan to siphon revenue generated at the depot in the event of his scheming succeeding because those being pushed forward by him would not have the courage to demand accountability and transparency from him.

Chanting in vernacular “Ole” “Ole” (meaning thief, thief), the protesters peacefully went about their demonstration, not deterred by the heavy presence of armed military operatives that provided cover for the zonal Chairman’s convoy that saw him being ferried in the white PTD branded Toyota Hiace bus with Lagos number plate, AP542VP.

Insiders hinted that PTD members at the NNPC Ejigbo unit, are quite unhappy with the running of the union by the current leadership of both PTD Lagos Zone and the National leadership of NUPENG

According to the sources, there are allegations that since Gbolahan resumed as Chairman of the Zone, there had been no record of transparency or accountability on all the resources being generated by the tanker drivers in the Zone.

One of key organisers of the protest, Faleti Taoreed, told reporters that; “Our protest is going on peacefully today on Thursday. We don’t want Gbolahan and his people here in Ejigbo Depot; he has betrayed us; he should explain to us where he takes our money being generated every week to. We can’t be working here under the sun and rain, and you will be taking our money to Ibadan every week. He can’t impose caretaker committtee here, we won’t allow them, we want election, we want to freely choose those who will lead us without rancour. Enough is enough.

“See them bringing soldiers with arms and ammunition to silence, intimidate, harass, victimise, and bully us. The same thing we see at the Lagos Zone every day, we have Naval officers with ammunition manning the secretariat. How many of us can they kill? Is this the way union is run? They have lost their legitimacy; that’s why they are bringing soldiers to foist their leadership on us, and that can never work.

“This is not the same union that late Frank Kokori, Akinlaja, Okuogbo, Akpatason, Igwe Achese built. I wonder why EFCC, ICPC, NFIU etc hasn’t come to look at NUPENG shoddy financial records all this while.

“How on earth can you bring armed security agents to a petrol depot that houses highly inflammable products? What if there was a case of accidental discharge on Thursday or that a trigger-happy personnel pulled his trigger? The whole depot could have gone up in flames and lives and properties in the depot, and its envions could have been jeopardized.

“This is not the type of union that should be running our affairs; all they do is to loot our resources, impoverish our members and make them look like slaves and beggars, while they are building filing stations, mansions, hotels, parks and buying cars for their women and sending their children abroad to school. Comrade Lucky Osesua and Comrade Dayyabu Yusuf Garga are leaders who mean well for the union.

“These are the type of people we can trust in the leadership of the Union. Workers inside the tank farm have joined the protest as we speak,” Faleti Taoreed, one of the organisers, said.

“Nobody is going in and out of the facility, we cannot support leaders who can’t protect our interests. We are the foot soldiers, yet they don’t reward our hard work. They are thieves. Akporeha, Afolabi, and Otunba should leave us alone and retire from the union immediately.”

Since November 2023, NUPENG has been in the news for the wrong reasons with the Lucky Osesua-led faction consistently condemning the posture of its parent union, which they said had been hijacked by the General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale.

They alleged that Olawale is engaged in forum shopping, blackmail, contempt of Court and using sentiments to foist on Tanker Drivers, Federal Government and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry the discredited leadership of Augustine Egbon, against the wishes of majority of PTD members.