Abuja — One of the elders of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in Port Harcourt Zone, Joseph Dagogo-Jack has admonished the leadership of the parent body especially the General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale not to thwart the decision of the court which recently ordered a fresh and all-inclusive national delegates conference.
Dagogo-Jack in a chat with some journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday described the judiciary as the true hope of the common man, commending Justice O.Y. Anuwe for protecting the sanctity of the temple of justice without fear or favour.
"With hindsight, things need to be done in a more acceptable manner this time in the affairs of PTD. In the interest of peace and appropriateness, Afolabi Olawale should not engage in any activities that will again compromise the electoral process.
" It was obvious that the NUPENG National Secretariat was seen to be biased in the previous election; therefore it should not be allowed to conduct this fresh election.
"It will be more appropriate to have neutral bodies like the Federal Ministry of Labour and the Department of State Services (DSS) to serve as umpire and returning officers, so that the process will be transparent, credible, free and fair.
"NUPENG should, as a matter of decency, comply strictly with the Court rulings which stated without ambiguity that all suspensions and query letters against all PTD members remain null and void.
"The same should also apply to the illegal embargo placed on the petroleum tankers belonging to Lucky Osesua, Gayyab Garga, Olabisi Akinlolu, Obinna Power and others.
"Their trucks should forthwith be allowed to load at deports across Nigeria without encumbrance. This also means that after almost a year, tanker drivers who have been rendered jobless by Afolabi can now work, many thanks to the judiciary.
"The court also stated that pending when new executives of the PTD Branch shall emerge from the election to be conducted soon, the union should constitute a Caretaker Committee to run the affairs of the PTD Branch, with a caveat that no member of the Caretaker Committee shall be a member of the electoral committee. This is very important.
"PTD stakeholders are also surprised that NUPENG will be rolling out election guidelines that are filled with clauses contradictory to PTD bye laws. This is totally unacceptable," he said.
He argued that just 48 hours after the judgement was delivered on Wednesday, the National Secretariat of NUPENG went ahead taking numerous misguided decisions.
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"They were not bothered to reconcile the two factions by revoking all suspensions and sanctions springing forth from the nullified elections or giving instruction that pictures of the Ibadan faction National Chairman and National Secretary be removed from all PTD units across the 4 zones nationwide.
"But they're busy rolling out election guidelines that are not in alignment with the PTD branch bye laws. It is very shameful and unbelievable that NUPENG will still want to drag us backwards.
"We also observed that the venue, date, and mode of elections were chosen without including both factions from the camps of Lucky Osesua and Augustine Egbon so as to harmonise ideas and also the electoral plans.
"More importantly, elections of the magnitude of PTD National Executives cannot be conducted without campaigns and posters for the purpose of sensitising all eligible delegates. Honestly there should be a huge distinction between an election and selection," he added.
Dagogo-Jack stated that it is the time for PTD's freedom from the hands of oppressors who are destroying the legacies of the union's forbears.
