The National Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has dismissed claims making the rounds that it is experiencing a leadership tussle.
In a statement on Friday, Union said those peddling the claim are facing trial before a competent court in the country for a five-count charge bordering on attempted murder, breach of peace, and assault.
It further denied the claim of a purported plan by the union to disrupt the country’s oil sector.
The union stressed in the statement that the former National Chairman, Lucky Osesua, Comrade Obinna, and 18 others are standing trial before Justice Yusuf Halilu, sitting in Maitama, Abuja.
“These are individuals who have been suspended by the union for acts capable of casting aspersions on the image of NUPENG.
So, what rights do they have to talk about the activities of the Union? Until they sort out their pending criminal trial, we don’t want to engage them, as we don’t want to be seen to be meddling in the judicial process. We hold the judiciary in high esteem.”
“We want to assure members of the public that there is no threat to the existing peace in the midstream and downstream sectors coming from NUPENG. Our genuine members remain law-abiding and would not partake in any activity that would undermine the economy.
“But we wish to urge the security agencies to take more than passing interests in the actions of these individuals as their open threats could be inimical to the existing peace and industrial harmony in the oil sector.
For the umpteenth time, we say categorically that these characters are impostors. They are on suspension and can’t parade themselves as members of NUPENG,” the union stated.
NUPENG’s clarification comes on the heels of media reports attributed to a former chairman of its PTD Branch, SOBAZ Unit Calabar, Comrade Humble Obinna Power, who alleged that Comrades Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, president and general secretary of the union, respectively, were planning to create an industrial crisis in the oil sector through what he called an “illegal attempt to conduct PTD Branch Zonal and Unit elections in February and March 2026.”