The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers’ Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch (PTD-NUPENG) has threatened to strike in response to what it called “illegal activities and high-handedness of security agents, particularly the military task force operating in the Port Harcourt zone of the union.”
Lucky Osesua, national chairman of PTD-NUPENG, claimed that men from the task force burned two trucks carrying High Pour Fuel Oil (HPFO), also known as black oil, on Tuesday night after the truck drivers were falsely accused of transporting crude oil, while speaking to reporters in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Osesua, the trucks that were lifting the black oil on Monday and Tuesday from the Walter Smith Refinery and Petrochemical in Ibigwe, Imo State, were stopped between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers State.
He identified the trucks’ license plates as EFR 770 XA and AFZ 351 ZY and stated that they were each transporting 40,000 liters to Bob and Sea Depot in Koko Delta State.
The chairman insisted that the drivers were courteous in their answer and provided the required paperwork to the task force members, adding that the officers disregarded the paperwork, rejected pleas, and set fire to the trucks.
Osesua stated of the drivers’ presentation of waybills, NUPENG receipts, and quality control documents to newsmen while holding up the paperwork. However, the soldiers continued to argue that they were transporting crude oil. On Tuesday night, between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers State, they stole the two trucks and set them afire.
“Without investigation, without reaching out to the refinery, where the drivers said they lifted the black oil, the soldiers burnt down the trucks, in less than five hours.”
Additionally, he provided papers that were attested to by Charles Okon, the refinery manager of Walter Smith Refinery and Petrochemical, stating that the union had decided to cease product lifting at its Port Harcourt zone.
He stated that a similar decision to suspend loading will be made by Monday, with the exception of the task force’s damages being handled.
He added: “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.”