The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) under the aegis of "Concerned Elders League" has on Sunday, October 19, 2025 decried the recent indecent and embarrassing public misconduct of the NUPENG General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale at the National Assembly calling it "a show of shame" .
PTD also stated that Afolabi is the architect of all the protracted crisis bedeviling the Union and that he had destroyed all the legacies built by the founding fathers of the Union, particularly those credited to late Comrade (Chief) Frank Ovie Kokori who sacrificed his freedom, comfort and health for Nigeria’s democracy to survive. Regrettably, Afolabi and Williams Akporeha are the only NUPENG leadership that have taken members to court, remanded them in prison custody on trumped-up criminal charges.
The elders in a jointly signed statement by Comrades Kolapo Muse-Showunmi, Khalid Adamu, Christopher Owheyre and Kingsley Amadi called on the General Secretary to honourably leave the Union, noting that his arrogance, brashness, intellectual deficit were setting very dangerous precedents for the Union. They also accused him of standing truth in the head and playing to the gallery to gain cheap publicity and relevance.
Checks revealed that the General Secretary had on behalf of the Union made a declaration in a memorandum to the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) during the Annual Downstream Petroleum Week Conference at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja that no democracy can thrive where workers’ voices are suppressed, warning that attempts to undermine trade union rights in the nation’s oil and gas industry are unconstitutional and unacceptable. The same Afolabi who disobeyed several court orders and judgments, manipulated electoral guidelines to disenfranchise members who are not his anointed candidates: what a contrast!
He also reminded the Federal parliamentarians that Nigeria’s democracy was partly achieved through the historic struggles of trade unions such as NUPENG and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, against military dictatorship. He as well said the same democratic values must now be used to protect the rights of workers who sustain the nation’s energy sector.
PTD's official statement in reaction to Afolabi's affront on Tuesday reads in part; “Industry stakeholders, regulators and Nigeria as a whole watched the embarrassing moment and show of shame displayed by the General Secretary of NUPENG, Afolabi Olawale at the National Assembly on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. His brashness, arrogance and display of intellectual deficit clearly showed a clear case of recruitment error in the junior oil workers' union. Seeing this inconsistent and belligerent character spill his gut in such a disgraceful manner left us with no choice but to say we are grossly disappointed at everyone who contributed to how Afolabi emerged as the General Secretary of our great Union, the enablers of this man have done the greatest harm and disservice to NUPENG and posterity will be harsh to them.
“Seeing Afolabi openly making a submission that NUPENG is demanding immediate recognition of both NUPENG and PENGASSAN as the only statutory unions for junior and senior oil and gas workers and that such recognition must be a precondition for operational licensing within the oil and gas sector showed the monopolistic tendencies of this overzealous unionist. It is better for him to tender his resignation letter and save himself and the Union's image from further embarrassment and reproach.
“Emperical evidence has also revealed that Afolabi Olawale is one person whose interest is to enrich himself and display a high level of heinous activity to subjugate other union members and staff. There are also indications that afflilate members of NUPENG are not holding back in passing of a vote of no confidence on the President Prince Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary Afolabi Olawale Olufemi, as it is widely confirmed that these individuals have embarrassingly failed the union administratively and operationally and they lack the gravitas to raise suggestions or offer advice at the hallowed complex of law making or any other fora in Nigeria or elsewhere.
“It is really appaling to see this union in such a bellicose and pugnacious mood at a time when President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry is currently yielding fruits. Therefore no charlatan should be allowed to serve as cog in the wheel of progress. Our institutions, especially the Ministry of Labour and Employment, industry regulators, Law Enforcement Agencies, our Law Makers, The Presidency, Ministry of Petroleum Resources etc should not give audience to some touts, who are overrated and parading themselves as unionists to thinker with the Petroleum Industry Act so as to suit their own selfish desires and create crisis in the industry just as they did in PTD and other branches of the Union.
“We make bold to say we are proud of President Bola Tinubu for putting a stop to payment of Petroleum subsidy and his implementation of the PIA which is working in tandem with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on energy efficiency and security as well as the 2030 Agenda. We also now have Dangote Refinery on board who is depopulating the unemployment market, bringing in eco-friendly CNG brand new trucks to mitigate the gaps of logistics, products supply and distribution throughout the nooks and cranny of Nigeria. With all these attendant feats, Dangote deserves all the accolades for keying into Tinubu’s progressive economic blueprints set to advance socio-economic recovery, advancement and prosperity.
“Therefore no one should ever tolerate any nuisance being constituted by any group under the guise of trade union. Economic saboteurs in the country are daily unmasking their veil, and having being identified, government should swing into action swiftly by making them to face the full weight of the law. No one is bigger than the rule of law including NUPENG, PENGASSAN and their ilk.
“On this note, we therefore appeal to members of the National Assembly at both chambers to treat NUPENG's ill-conceived memorandum as a distasteful tool of confusion designed to destabilize the country’s Upstream, Mid-stream and Downstream Petroleum sector. Their act of economic sabotage in documentation and in principles should be thrashed and thrown to the refuse bin for lack of substance. Nobody should be allowed to derail President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda particularly in the integral sector of the country’s economy.
“The National Assembly should please previal on NUPENG to stop the multidimensional nonsense and slavery in the union and as well stop these union leaders for using the check off dues of their members to build recreation centres, hotels, buy houses in Canada, the UK, and United States. We further appeal to the Honourable members and Distinguished Senators to stop these misguided union leaders by advising them to halt frequent patronage of women in hotels at city centres, to avoid spread of STIs which poses higher risk to public health and safety.
“Those who are morally corrupt and have patently and overtly betrayed their country lack the right or privilege to dictate to our parliament on how to effectively and efficiently manage their legislative affairs, especially the country’s highly sensitive Petroleum sector. United, we stand against every economic saboteurs and enemy of progress in Nigeria’s economic powerhouse,” the statement concluded.
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