By Nurat Uthman
Ahead of this Tuesday’s election by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG)/Petroleum Tanker Drivers(PTD), in Ibadan, Oyo State, aggrieved members of the Union have asked the National Caretaker Secretary, PTD/NUPENG, Afolabi Olawale to refrain from carrying out activities which would disenfranchise any aspirant vying for any position in the said election.
The members in a letter of complaint jointly signed by Wada Useini (Kaduna Zone), Solomon Obebeduo (Warri Zone), Saka Ibrahim (Port Harcourt Zone) and Sylvanus Idahwekha (Lagos Zone) alleged that some illegal steps are being taken to purportedly disenfranchise some of the contestants.
In the said letter, they noted, “We, the concerned registered members of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (PTD/NUPENG) want to collectively express gratitude to the entire members of our great union for the laudable legal steps taken following the cancellation of the earlier conducted elections into various executive positions of the union which held last year.
“Concerned members viewed the position of the Industrial Court as very valid and of great significance to the overall peaceful, growth and development of this Union. We have been optimistic about a holistic adherence to the demands and Judicial pronouncements of the court in that direction.
“Concerned Members are however worried about the negatives emanating from the Union concerning the planned conduct of the same elections which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 31st October, 2023 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Our grave concerns are as follows:
“We are worried that after the said Judicial pronouncements by the Industrial Court demanding for the formation of a Caretaker committee and an electoral committee for the said elections, we observed that only a part of that demand (Caretaker Committee) was set while no electoral committee was set which we view this as a gross contempt of the court.”
They added, “The responsibility of conducting such purported elections which should have been the function of the electoral committee is currently being undertaken and usurped by the Secretary General of NUPENG. This to us is seen as anti-democratic and concerned members are kicking against such. Even as this festers against the wishes of members, the General Secretary went ahead to coin out some electoral guidelines that are not being strictly adhered to by the Caretaker Committee itself.
“This can be seen in the discrepancies in treating aspirants into the different positions as seen in Guideline 1 where aspirants were never allowed to print posters and openly campaign but concerned Members have noticed that some aspirants who are seen as “special” and “preferred” were being allowed to openly campaign and even print posters as well as produce campaign jingles.
“Similarly, in Guideline 11, aspirants were mandated to ensure their forms were signed by the Chairman and Secretary of another zone other than the zone of the contestant whereas, it is known to us that such zonal Chairmen and Secretaries were initially warned never to sign any such forms to contestants outside their zones. This, the concerned members see as a deliberate attempt to forcefully disenfranchise some contestants in favour of some other few, which is viewed as crassly undemocratic and unacceptable in modern democracy and the intent of our great union.”
They further alluded that, “The Caretaker committee has shown some sort of preference on some candidates over others by glaringly showing it through rejecting the duly filled nomination forms of some contestants which is looked at as quite unfortunate and an invitation to anarchy as the union inches into the elections in no distant time.”
They called on the entire membership of the union to address “these lines of injustice being perpetrated by the General Secretary on behalf of the Caretaker Committee before the elections should be held. Failure to address these lines of grave concerns, we are calling for the postponement of the said elections scheduled for Tuesday, 31st October 2023. We also call for the elections to be held in Abuja instead of Ibadan, Oyo state and also set up a special committee to probe into these illegalities and put things in the right perspective for the greater good of our union.”
Meanwhile, the persons further called on “the Nigerian Police and other security agencies as well as all affiliate unions in the oil and gas industry to take note of these concerns and intervene accordingly. We want to say that if positive steps are not taken to address these concerns raised by our members then other steps may be taken to salvage PTD from being muscled out of its rightful place.”
