PTD-NUPENG Threatens Strike Over Attacks By Security Operatives

Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (PTD-NUPENG) has threatened to embark on nationwide strike action over frequent attacks by security agents, especially the men of the Military Task Force.

According to the group, its members would commence a nationwide strike on Monday if nothing is done about the issue of its burnt trucks in the Port Harcourt zone of the union in Rivers State.

Naija News gathered that the National Chairman of the PTD-NUPENG, Lucky Osesua, revealed to pressmen in Abuja on Wednesday that men of the Military Task Force operating in Port Harcourt burnt two of its members trucks conveying HPFO, a.k.a black oil on Tuesday night, because they thought the drivers were illegally conveying crude oil.

He explained that the union has taken a decision to stop lifting products at its Port Harcourt zone and also nationwide by Monday if damages incurred as a result of the high-handedness of the Military Task Force were not addressed.

Narrating how the incident happened, Osesua explained that the trucks lifted the black oil at a modular refinery identified as Walter Smith Refinery and Petrochemical Ibigwe in Imo State on Monday and Tuesday, and were intercepted between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers State.

He advanced that the trucks, with plate numbers EFR 770 XA and AFZ 351 ZY were carrying 40,000 liters each of the black oil to Bob & Sea Depot Koko in Delta State before both were burnt down in Rivers State.

The PTD-NUPENG national chairman pointed out that men of the military refused to go through the documents and the WayBills and NUPENG receipts before concluding to set the trucks ablaze.

The PTD-NUPENG national chairman, who presented the documents signed by the Manager of Walter Smith Refinery and Petrochemical, Charles Okon, where the products were loaded to pressmen stated that “The drivers presented WayBills, NUPENG receipts, and quality control documents. But the military men still insisted that they carried crude oil. They drove the two trucks away and burnt them between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers State, on Tuesday night.

“Without investigation, without reaching out to the refinery, where the drivers mentioned that they lifted the Black Oil, the soldiers burnt down the trucks, in less than five hours.

“Enough is enough about the high-handedness of our security agents. They should stop demonising our Union and persecuting our men who are doing their normal business. We expect that in this modern world, trained security agents should be able to identify black oil as against crude oil. We should not be at the receiving end of their ignorance.”

He then alleged that the soldiers mobilized metal scraps collectors to the site of the burnt trucks to clean up the place to cover up their action.