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The embattled President and General Secretary of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrades Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, have taken fresh swipe from Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) just as the Branch stakeholders called for the duo’s immediate resignation in order to give room for fresh air and stability in the union.
The latest call was contained in a statement signed by Comrade Preye Odede-Graham on Sunday, September 21, 2025, on behalf of PTD elders and stakeholders, Comrades (Alhaji) Tajudeen Abubakar (Kaduna Zone), Chief (Comrade.) Edafe Osas (Warri Zone), Comrade Joseph Dagogo-Jack (JP) (Port Harcourt Zone) and Comrade Kolade Fadahunsi-Ojelabi (Lagos Zone).
This latest onslaught came on the heels of ongoing industrial disputes between Dangote Refinery, NUPENG, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), and other industry associations.
PTD blamed the recent woes befalling NUPENG on the lacklustre attitude of the union’s President as well as intimidation, victimisation and harassment of the members of PTD by the General Secretary which is at variance with the extant rules of the union as well as human dignity.
PTD maintained that they no longer wanted to be used as attack dogs against the federal government especially President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other players in the industrial ecosystem.
They lampooned leaders of NUPENG over their failure to hail the tenacity of Dangote Refinery for standing against all odds to defeat the process pressure and market disruption with the 650,000 bpd capacity alongside with the 4,000 CNG trucks tankers and 6,000 truck cargoes totalling 10,000 trucks costing N2 trillion to move the products to the consumers at no cost, with value added of over 40,000 jobs.
They also begged President Tinubu to ensure high tariffs increase to discourage fuel importation and add increased crude supply to Dangote Refinery with licence for oil exploration. They further advised Mr. President to nationalise oil well so as to allow for proper dredging which majority licensed sites were desolate and moribund.
They begged law enforcement agencies, anti-graft agents, industry regulators, federal government, stakeholders in trade union, media, civil society, legal profession, etc, to support them to commence the re-engineering of NUPENG by showing Afolabi and Williams the exit doors from the union so that the petroleum industry could get the much-anticipated liberation.
“On this note, we therefore appeal to all our members in PTD and others in various branches not to be despaired, let us join hands together and win the battle against these common enemies and stop them once and for all, these multidimensional nonsense and slavery in the union must be hurriedly put to stop. United, we stand against every economic saboteur and enemy of progress in Nigeria’s economic powerhouse,” the statement said.
