By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The pioneer executive chairman of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of NUPENG, SOBAZ Unit Calabar, Comrade (Dr) Humble Obinna Power has officially petitioned key law enforcement agents in Nigeria including the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Nigeria Labour Congress to use their legitimate powers to stop NUPENG National leadership from causing industrial crisis in the energy sector through their illegal attempt to conduct PTD BRANCH Zonal and Units elections in February and March 2026.
Comrade Obinna stressed that NUPENG President, General Secretary and National Trustee, Comrades Williams Akporeha, Afolabi Olawale, Otunba Salimon Akanni Oladiti, are known for committing contempt of court with several records showing total disregard to the rule of law.
He patently advised that the Union leaders should be brought to justice to foster industrial harmony and peace in the country’s petroleum industry value chain.
PTD’s strongly worded petition signed by Comrade Obinna which was submitted and duly acknowledged in the offices of the NSA, IGP, DG DSS, NLC PRESIDENT, and the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment on Friday 23rd January 2026, informed all relevant stakeholders who were in copy about NUPENG National leadership’s intentions to throw spanner in the works and overheat the polity with no modicum of dignity, national interest or patriotism.
Comrade (Dr) Power while speaking to newsmen in the nation’s capital city Abuja on Thursday 29th of January, 2026 at Denis Hotels confirmed that he had received calls from both Police and DSS headquarters in respect to the petitions.
He however expressed readiness to honour the invitation form the security agents with his principal, Comrade Lucky Osesua and other members of his team as soon as dates are communicated to both parties concerned in the matter.
PTD further expressed great dismay and disgust about the high handedness, lawlessness, and recklessness in the Union particularly in this era of democratic governance; and how absurd, ridiculous, and quite unfortunate it has been, seeing the President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Prince Williams Akporeha, his General Secretary Mr Afolabi Olawale, and the National Trustee, Otunba Salimon Akanni Oladiti operating in absolute impunity and total disregard to the rule of law.
According to Obinna, “These folks apart from Comrade Oladiti are educated, yet chose to act like people who have no knowledge of what disobedience to court orders, judgments, and their consequences are.
“At least there are still three cases bothering on the sham elections conducted by NUPENG leadership in 2022, 2023, and 2024 which are still pending at the FCT High Court Maitama, National Industrial Court of Nigeria Abuja, and the Court of Appeal Port-Harcourt; non of these cases have been determined and NUPENG leadership is still in a hurry to conduct yet another election. Meanwhile the Zonal elections they’re planning to conduct, were first conducted on the 10th of May, 2022, and most of the Zonal executives that were elected with the incumbent Zonal Chairmen, and many other Unit Chairmen and Executives who are yet to serve out their tenures have been unlawfully suspended and removed from office and even replaced since November 2023 without any committee set up to foster fair hearing, thereby grossly violating both the PTD Bye-Laws and the NUPENG Constitution.
“It is worthy to note that the NUPENG President Prince Williams Akporeha, and Mr Afolabi Olawale the General Secretary both admitted during cross-examination that Comrade Lucky Osesua and 19 others standing trial before the FCT High Court are members of the Union. The 8 years tenure of Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale will be terminated by April 2026, so they are now in a hurry to bring forward the election dates by two more and impose their stooges and surrogates before leaving office; this they have already started by imposing another stooge, Comrade Mathias O. Ote from Warri Zone as PTD Branch National Chairman, barely two weeks after the 9th of January burial of the late Comrade Augustine Egbon who they imposed as National Chairman of the PTD Branch twice on the 31st of October 2023 in Ibadan, and on the 3rd of July 2024 in Lagos, in defiance to the May 29th 2024 judgment of Hon. Justice Anuwe of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria Abuja.”
Apart from the petition submitted on Friday, Obinna also criticized NUPENG National leaders over another case of contempt charge against them which has led to the arrest of several members of PTD Lagos Zone on Wednesday. The arrested members according to him are currently cooling their heels at the Kirikiri Medium Security Correctional Centre, Lagos, following an order of committal issued by a Lagos State High Court over their disobedience of a subsisting court judgment on the leadership and autonomy of union units.
The warrant it was gathered, stemmed from Suit No: LD/568/200, which was executed by court sheriffs, who took the affected NUPENG officials into custody and conveyed them to Kirikiri Prison.