No leadership tussle among petroleum tanker drivers, says NUPENG

By Abubakar Yunusa

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) says there is no leadership tussle within its Petroleum Tankers Drivers (PTD) branch.

The NUPENG,in a stateme yesterday,addressed claims attributed to Humble Obinna, a former chairman of its PTD branch, SOBAZ unit, Calabar.

NUPENG said Obinna had alleged that Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, president and general secretary of the union, respectively, were planning to create industrial crisis in the oil sector through “illegal attempt to conduct PTD Branch Zonal and Units elections in February and March 2026”.

The union said Obinna further claimed that the planned elections violated PTD bylaws and the NUPENG constitution..

According to the statement, a member of the national executive committee of NUPENG confirmed that Obinna had been suspended from the union.

NUPENG said he and Lucky Osesua, former national chairman of PTD-NUPENG, removed by a national industrial court ruling in Bayelsa, are facing charges before a federal high court in Abuja.

“These are individuals who have been suspended by the Union for acts capable of casting aspersions on the image of NUPENG,” the statement reads.

“So, what rights do they have to talk about activities of the Union? Until they sort out their pending criminal trial, we don’t want to engage them as we don’t want to be seen to be meddling in the judicial process. We hold the judiciary in high esteem

“We want to assure members of the public that there is no threat to the existing peace in the midstream and downstream sectors coming from NUPENG.

“Our genuine members remain law-abiding and would not partake in any activity that would undermine the economy.”

The union also called on security agencies to closely monitor the actions of the suspended members, warning that their threats could disrupt industrial harmony in the oil sector.

NUPENG described the individuals as “impostors” who cannot represent the union.