Several members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, association at the Calabar depot took to the streets on Monday to protest alleged cheating and extortion by the officials of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG.
The placard-bearing tanker drivers demonstrated around the depot to drive home their anger.
They insisted that they would no longer tolerate further NUPENG’s domination over them or its officials’ exploitation of them.
Furthermore, some of them wanted NUPENG to stay away from their elections and vowed to resist non-drivers leading their association.
The placards displayed by the protesters carried various inscriptions, such as ” Drivers on wheels are dying,” “We say no to bad leadership of NUPENG,” “Tanker Drivers freedom is now,” and “NUPENG leave PTD alone.”
The spokesman of the protesters, Ibrahim Isaac, alleged: “NUPENG is cheating us and treating us unfairly, like slaves. We no longer want them. We, the drivers, need freedom from them because they are using us.
“They used to go and bring a carpenter, at times, they’d bring a tailor to be the secretary of the association. We drive trucks for 20 to 30 years, and we have no benefit. The time has come to get our rights and we have selected those we want.”
Another speaker, Adams Abdullahi, an executive of PTD, said what they are experiencing is akin to slavery.
However, the unit head of NUPENG in Cross River State, Peter Joshua, in a terse response, said the body has no knowledge of the issues raised.
