The Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (PTD– NUPENG) has threatened a strike over the illegal activities and high-handedness of some security agents, particularly the Military Task Force in the Port Harcourt zone of the Union.
This may end the relief being experienced by Nigerians at Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol retail outlets across the country over availability of the products.
National Chairman of the PTD-NUPENG, Comrade Lucky Osesua told reporters at the NUPENG secretariat, Abuja that men of the Military Task Force in Port Harcourt burnt two trucks conveying HPFO, otherwise known as black oil on Tuesday night as the truck drivers were falsely accused of transporting crude oil.
According to the PTD-NUPENG National Chairman, the trucks which lifted the black oil at a modular refinery, Walter Smith Refinery, and Petrochemical Ibigwe Imo State on Monday and Tuesday were intercepted between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers State.
Osesua, who gave the plate numbers of the trucks as EFR 770 XA and AFZ 351 ZY, further disclosed that they were conveying 40,000 liters each of the Black Oil to Bob and Sea Depot Koko Delta State.
He said that the drivers of the two trucks were polite in their responses and presented all the necessary documents to officers of the military who ignored the documents, rebuffed appeals, and burnt the trucks.
The PTD-National Chairman who presented the documents to newsmen said: “The drivers presented WayBills, NUPENG receipts, and quality control documents. But the military men still insisted that they carried crude oil. They drove the two trucks away and burnt them between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers State on Tuesday night.
“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”.
Osesua further hinted that in a desperate move to clean up their actions, the soldiers mobilised those who pick scraps to the sight of the burnt trucks.
