The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has dismissed the weighty allegation made by the union’s leadership that Dangote Refinery was sponsoring division within PTD, and resisting workers’ rights to unionisation, a claim the Tanker Drivers described as “tissue of lies from a Union already drowning into oblivion”.
The PTD National leaders also condemned NUPENG for overheating the polity and weaponizing malicious and dangerous rhetorics that could incite regulators and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry against Dangote Petroleum Refinery, noting that the government of Nigeria should call the strike mongers (NUPENG) to order and stop the union from “throwing a spanner in the works”.
In a joint statement signed by Comrades Lucky Osesua, Dayyabu Garga and Humble Obinna Power, on Sunday, the Union raised concerns over “archaic, barbaric, anti-labour posture and other imperceptible activities that are alien to modern day trade unionism ” being carried out by NUPENG leadership under Afolabi Olawale (General Secretary) and Williams Akporeha (President).
The statement reads in part:
“Our attention has been drawn to a weak, fallacious, infantile and disjointed press release issued by NUPENG on Friday, September 12, 2025 which purported that the National Executives of Petroleum Tanker Drivers are being sponsored by Dangote Refinery to cause division within PTD, and to resist workers’ rights to unionisation. This assertion is patently incorrect and misleading but also proved how ridiculous the leaders of NUPENG could be particularly the General Secretary, Olawale Afolabi and the ceremonial President Williams Akporeha. They should be stopped from throwing a spanner in the works or stirring the hornet’s nest.
“It is honestly an assault on the sensibility of Nigerians that while President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR is trying to use his Renewed Hope Agenda to take Nigerians out of worsening insecurity, biting economic hardship, widespread hunger and starvation, comatose infrastructure, crippled productive sector, weakened currency, closure of millions of businesses with over 36% unemployment rate, hopelessness and general despondency all occasioned by the past administrations, NUPENG still has the temerity to connive with some diabolic forces to drag Nigeria backwards and destroy the country’s petroleum industry.
“We are also not surprised that NUPENG flippantly undermined the subjudice rule by openly discussing in its September 12 press release, a matter that is currently in the Court of competent jurisdiction which is rooted in the principles of fair trial and impartial justice, enshrined in Nigeria’s legal system through statutory provisions and judicial precedents. We hope these misguided, desperate and overzealous individuals will learn, understand and uphold the contempt doctrine in their own interest as far as this matter is concerned.
“Putting the record straight, we are bonafide members of the PTD Branch of NUPENG who were disenfranchised, subjected to all manner of brutal and inhuman treatments and we cried out for justice and justice we got when the two Kangaroo elections conducted in Ibadan on June 30th 2022, and 31st October 2023 were all nullified. This is the first and only NUPENG leadership that has ever taken her members to the Police, to Court, and to Prison custody. They equally hold the record of being the only NUPENG leadership that has conducted back to back elections in two years that were all nullified by the Court: What a shame!
“We wish to emphasise here, that NUPENG’s lack of respect and sensitivity to Nigeria’s extant labour laws, corporate governance, transparency, accountability, international conventions and global best practices is gradually becoming the stock in trade for the union as there are still several other lingering infractions and issues against hapless Tanker Drivers yet to be addressed by the leadership of NUPENG, even after courts and elders of our unions had severally intervened in these matters.
“The current leaders of NUPENG have shown that they are individuals who lack requisite competence to manage the affairs of the Union and they are people that thrive and relish in inflicting excruciating pain and hardship on their members and staff. The secretariat of NUPENG as at today is a haven of power-grabbers, treasury looters and manipulators who are only interested in siphoning the union’s patrimony at the expense of the members.
“This oppressive style of leadership is alien to our union and we urge the government and the public to take note of this flagrant abuse of power. On a daily basis they inflict psychological and emotional trauma on our members which is totally unbearable for them, and this is unfortunately making them feel less human and completely depressed and unhappy. However when these members now try to seek succor elsewhere to keep their means of livelihood and human dignity alive, we don’t think they’ve committed any crime.
“Why is NUPENG averse to the operational efficiency Dangote Refinery is bringing to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry? How did NUPENG jump into the irrational conclusion that Dangote’s company was offering the public a “Greek gift” of free nationwide petroleum delivery and that its activities would undermine the union and stifle competition? Why is NUPENG constantly attacking the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP) and Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association DTCDA and seeing them as its enemies in the petroleum industry value chain? Yet, NUPENG is accusing a major industry player like Dangote and MRS Holdings of championing a monopolistic agenda, while they (NUPENG and its ilk) are guilty of the same with much evidence to prove it so.
“We are pleased to make it public knowledge that NUPENG was resisted on Monday September 8 by PTD to shut down depots and sabotage Nigeria economically when it claimed to have gone on strike to protest against Dangote refinery for not allowing the newly recruited drivers for its 4,000 compressed natural gas-powered trucks to join the union. In the wake of NUPENG’s failure it then issued a statement to lament and make its frustration known to Nigerians through a false narrative that we were being sponsored by Dangote. That was totally irresponsible and thoughtless of people who called themselves union leaders.
“We want to clearly state that the allegations that Dangote was undermining union activities and threatening workers’ welfare through its new deployment of CNG-powered trucks are simply not true but baseless and have no place in logic. From our unbiased research and independent survey in the last few years, Dangote refinery is fully in support of constitutionally protected labour rights and their employees are free to affiliate with any trade union of their choice without management’s interference. Nigerians should reject the tissue of lies being peddled by the Union that is already drowning into oblivion.
“However, NUPENG, otherwise known as strike mongers, cannot continue to deceive citizens with lies and harvest of false narratives when it has actually failed on all fronts, by reversing all the successes made in the last 47 years by the Union’s founding fathers and by crippling their gains and legacies. Today, under the voodoo administration of Afolabi Olawale and Williams Akporeha, more distressing is that while members and staff of the Union are experiencing harrowing hardship, these corrupt union leaders are busy looting the treasury to fund their overseas trips to watch live English Premier League matches, fund luxury lifestyle, buying houses in Lekki, and building multi million naira recreation centre in Ikorodu.
“As Dangote Refinery and MRS Holdings continue to be Oasis of Development in the Nigeria’s deregulated petroleum industry, NUPENG should cover its face in shame, end its shenanigans, accept failure and come to terms with the fact that it has a short lifespan in the face of abysmal failure, lack of tact/operational discretion, and rejection by Nigerians from all walks of life; and will soon be sent to the oblivion and obscurity by the contemporary realities in the petroleum industry ecosystem.
“We therefore use this medium to demand that the intimidation, harassment, humiliation, physical and emotional attacks on our members must stop, NUPENG has no right to turn itself into a pseudo opposition political party under the umbrella of trade unionism and trying to do everything possible to embarrass the government, and frustrate the progress made by the country in the very sensitive oil and gas sector.”
Meanwhile, the Osesua-led PTD leadership also called on the presidency, ministry of labour and employment, industry regulators, elders of the union, Police, NLC, NSCDC, ICPC, EFCC, National Assembly, civil rights groups, and other critical stakeholders to intervene and prevent further harm to DTCDA and ADITOP and their thousands of members as freedom of association is guaranteed under Nigeria’s laws.