The lingering crisis in the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Section (PTDS) of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has continued to assume a very dangerous dimension.
The crisis is such that the derivable benefits from this very critical section of the country’s oil industry continues to suffer untold set back. A concerned member of one of the warring groups, Comrade Babalola Bolaji, in an interview with reporters, spoke on the way forward.
Comrade Bolaji said the Genesis of the crisis in PTDS of NUPENG started from internal crisis. He said one Olawale Afolabi assumed the role of an overall boss and not as an employee. According to Bolaji, as an employee, he must take counsel from the employer and try to give them professional advice; how to put things straight.
He said what Olawale does as a Secretary is commanding the them instead. “He acts as their boss not as an employee anymore. The man has really caused the PTD a lot of havoc. What they are looking for is how to control it. The funniest part of it is that this man is from NUPENG, not employee to PTD direct. But one of us, Oladiti Salman Akanni brought him into PTDS. They are all from the same town so they now want to turn PTD into an ethnic something, no more union but one man business. This has been the tussle in the PTD and they did not know how to quench it until it aggravated to external crisis,” Comrade Bolaji stated
He said; “Now, Akanni has used PTDS but he doesn’t want to leave it. He now connived with some people from NUPENG, and I want you to know that NUPENG has more than 40 branches under them. The question is why causing trouble in PTD? What is their interest with PTD? Their interest is simply selfishness and greed because the audacity given to them from Akanni Salmon has made them to now sit on their neck. What they are doing is to impose their people without following the constitutional procedure and it is not right.“
Explains why it has been difficult making peace, Bolaji said; “From all indications, resolving the crisis that bedeviled PTDS now will be a little difficult. This is because, NUPENG people have entered them and they don’t want to go out until the court help them to settle the matter. But they don’t know that nobody is above the law.”
“The status quo ante should be maintained and the court should be allowed to settle the matter. If personally they want to solve it, NUPENG needs to remove their hand and say okay, how do you people do your elections, how do you people work it out, the predecessors, how do they do it? What they should do is for NUPENG to be an observer. If the matter was reported to NUPENG, they can come in as a mother body and say ‘okay, we are your mother, we select some people from other branches let us look unto their crisis. But these people are the cause of the crisis. It cannot be resolved amicably except they remove their hands. The way the situation is, it may not be amicably settled except by the judiciary. That is the only thing. My advice is that they should maintain the status quo ante.”
Comrade Bolaji also torchlight on the effect of the crisis. He said; “The lingering crisis has affected PTD because they are not having freedom anymore. You can imagine people coming in and begin to remove people without any offense. There is no constitutional labour law that says you can remove any worker without any crisis but they’ve interpreted it their own way. They don’t even have any respect for the law of Nigeria or court.”
“So, because of it, their case is just, cumbersome. It is the judiciary that can help out. We don’t even enjoy our work since NUPENG took over PTD. NUPENG has about 40 braches but they sat on PTD. There is a cabal causing this crisis and they are known. We are law abiding tanker drivers and we observe all the rules.”
“They have continued to disobey court orders. Court ordered that the status quo ante should be allowed to remain and nobody should be removed from office. But, they ignored it. They have stopped all our vehicles from working. Our filling stations are not working for over seven months. They are doing this because they feel they have money. We don’t have money but we must stick to the rule of law.”
On his expectations from the government, Comrade Bolaji said; “According to the report I heard, they’ve written a letter to NLC, DSS, IGP, and Ministry of Labour to attend to them but so far no reply. They called both parties, but the other party that hijacked the leadership of PTDS did not reply till date. Almost four months now or more, so I don’t know, I don’t know the government body that can step in now to resolve the crisis.”
While giving his advise, Comrade Bolaji said; “If they don’t want this crisis to linger, NUPENG should remove their hand, let them oversee others. If that is the way they have been taking offices from others, how many offices will they take?”
Comrade Bolaji speaking on the role of the police in the crisis, said; “When the crisis started, police arrested the principal executive of one of the warring parties and took them to a magistrate court for beating some people up. They are doing their findings to know who beat them, agreed. However, while they were on bail, police re-arrested them. They invited them that they should come, that they want to look at the case and ended up locking them up.”
“The other party did not come. They charged them to court again, another court. They took them to Kuje prison again and they want them to remain there until they are bailed. It remains a great injustice that must be addressed. Police failed to investigate the case properly. They just framed them up. All I know is that we need prayers to get justice.”
