Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of NUPENG has given its President, General Secretary, and the Union’s National Trustee a 14-day ultimatum to refund all illegal dues and levies collected from truck drivers and the management at MRS depot and Dangote Refinery or face litigation and ‘international ridicule’.
This demand was made known in a statement jointly signed by the leaders of a group whose members were drawn from all the four Zones of PTD, known as Concerned PTD Elders League on Wednesday, October 1, 2025.
The PTD group comprising of Comrades Kolapo Muse-Showunmi, Khalid Adamu, Christopher Owheyre and Kingsley Amadi reached the decision based on the failure of NUPENG leadership to show accountability, transparency and the courage to summon NEC meeting to clear their names of financial malfeasance carried out at MRS depot and Dangote Refinery.
The Elders League clarified that within the period of test-running at Dangote Refinery, petroleum trucks from major marketers were paying between N50,000 to N70,000 as levies and dues while independent marketers were forced to part with N90,000 to N100,000 per truck. They added that the leadership of NUPENG as presently constituted has shown it was not capable of rescuing the union from descending into a total collapse without remedy. The statement was also identified with the country’s 65th independence anniversary as the elders sent their good wishes to Nigeria and its leaders.
According to the eldershenr there was an urgent need for NEC to convene and address the issues plaguing the union, insisting that the President, Williams Akporeha; General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale; and the Trustee, Otunba Salimon Akanni Oladiti have caused NUPENG monumental embarrassment in the conduct of their administrative and operational duties.
The concerned PTD elders added that disregard and disrespect for the Union’s constitution precipitated the crisis in the PTD and NUPENG. They unanimously decried the appointment of the General Secretary (Afolabi Olawale) calling it “recruitment error”.
“For the love we have for PTD and our good wishes for NUPENG, we respectfully ask the President, Williams Akporeha, General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale and the Union’s National Trustee, Otunba Salimon Akanni Oladiti, to refund all illegal dues and levies they have collected from Tanker Drivers and the management of MRS depot and Dangote Refinery since the test-running of the Refinery began over a year ago, or face litigation and international ridicule. The drivers in Dangote Refinery are not PTD members and the laws say union membership is voluntary. We therefore give NUPENG leaders a 14-day ultimatum from the day of this open notice.
“For clarity, within this period of test-running at Dangote Refinery, trucks belonging to major petroleum marketers were paying between N50,000 to N70,000 as levies and dues while independent marketers were forced to part with N90,000 to N100,000 per truck.
“While we don’t want to bore Nigerians with our worries at a time the nation is still relishing in the anniversary mood in celebration of her 65th independence, we also found this step necessary so as to convince the populace that there are still some few Union leaders with integrity and honour who cherish transparency and accountability.
“We have also set machinery in motion to sue these individuals to court should they fail to follow the directive of this notice. In our resolve to deepen the seriousness this matter deserves, we have stepped further to notify civil rights groups, law enforcement agents, National Assembly, Dangote Refinery, MRS, anti graft agents (EFCC, ICPC, NFIU, CCB) and a few industry regulators to keep them abreast of this development and seek their help in the fight to expose and shame corruption in the Union so as to emulate and strengthen President Bola Tinubu administration’s zero tolerance for every form of criminality, especially fiscal and financial rascality.
“The hallmark of Tinubu’s government is integrity, therefore NUPENG will be doing greatest disservice to Nigeria if its leaders choose to champion avarice and abuse of office without any modicum of dignity. However, for the price we owe history, as elders we genuinely consider our move as an honorable path to follow so that those who are calling Tanker Drivers thieves, public goats, and other unprintable names could have a rethink, by opening their financial records for forensic audit, submit themselves for prosecution and do an open apology to the Nigerian oil and gas workers particularly the tanker drivers.
“To set the record straight, PTD is made up of men of distinction and integrity who don’t exploit the sweat of other hard working Nigerians for personal gains. We are deeply worried about how few elements in PTD and NUPENG flagrantly violated the law, turned themselves to tax collectors and criminally siphoned billions of naira from petroleum companies like MRS and Dangote Refinery which have no affiliation whatsoever with NUPENG or PTD. These impostors forcefully coerced drivers to make remittances that will only boost the revenue of some selected few at the expense of already impoverished Nigerians. This is totally unacceptable and will be definitely challenged in court in a matter of days.
“In the last few years under this present NUPENG leadership, there has been numerous records of brazen breach of by-laws, constitution and guidelines in the PTD Branch and that of the parent body, (NUPENG) by just three individuals, Afolabi Olawale, NUPENG General Secretary, Williams Akporeha, NUPENG President, and our former PTD National Chairman, who is now the National Trustee of NUPENG, Otunba Salimon Oladiti. Under them, PTD delegates conference has been conducted multiple times and the Courts have nullified them over and over for non-compliance to rule of law. These individuals have jettisoned and disregarded respect for human dignity, the core values and essence of our union.
“There is no justification for victimising Comrade Lucky Osesua as the National Chairman of PTD, alongside his deputies Comrades Dayyabu Garga, Comrade (Chief) Peter Moudebelu (ONWA), Humble Obinna Power and others who are generally accepted to run the affairs of the Branch, before power grabbers altered the status quo. But the judiciary has firmly stood to prove itself as the last hope of the common man and they should be commended for holding forth for truth, fairness and justice.
“The absence of great men like Osesua and his team have regrettably made PTD to fail in unionising refinery workers and petroleum tanker drivers at Dangote Refinery, we are still worried on how such opportunity was missed. This huge error has decimated the union and made it to be only active on paper and not on the field. It’s a shame that the Union lost such a golden opportunity to flourish in such a perceived fertile ground for growth and sustenance of our union, simply because the leaders of the day only know how to exhibit greed, lack of competence, arrogance and inability to negotiate intelligently through use of industry standards and other extant rules to muster their way through.
“They completely lost their calling as trade union leaders but only resorted to pettiness, name calling and physical attacks on management of Dangote Refinery, blocking their facility from loading products and depriving them to engage in other constitutionally-backed economic activities. This should be expected anyway, because the appointment of the General Secretary was a clear case of recruitment error which has grossly affected the Union in its administrative and operational dealings.
“We also urge NUPENG to stop the suspension or expulsion of the National Treasurer of NUPENG, Alex Agwanwor and others, as he that comes to equity must come with clean hands. NUPENG must purge itself of egocentric and desperate leaders. We want forensic audit into NUPENG financial books and we also want the re-engineering of its leadership architecture and we would need the support and cooperation of the three arms of government (Executive, Judiciary and Legislature) to help us in achieving this just and noble cause as we also trust in God the final arbiter. Happy independence anniversary Nigerians. Happy independence anniversary to our dear nation, Nigeria,” the statement read.
