The Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (PTD- NUPENG) has threatened to embark on strike over what it described as illegal burning by security operatives of two fuel-laden tankers mistaken for crude oil in Rivers State.
The National Chairman of PTD-NUPENG, Comrade Lucky Osesua, stated this in Abuja yesterday that men of the Military Task Force burnt the two trucks conveying High Pour Fuel Oil (HPFO) also called black oil on Tuesday night, accusing the drivers of transporting crude oil.
Osesua said the trucks, with numbers EFR770XA and AFZ351ZY, lifted the black oil from Walter Smith Refinery and Petrochemical Ibigwe, Imo State and were intercepted between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers State.
He said each was conveying 40,000 litres of the product from the modular refinery to Bob & Sea Depot in Koko Delta State.
Buhari renews, makes fresh appointments
NAFDAC targets WHO maturity level four for local vaccines highest level
The PTD-National chairman presented the product’s documents including waybills, NUPENG receipts and a quality control document signed by the refinery manager, Charles Okon.
He 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.
“Without investigation, without reaching out to the refinery, where the drivers mentioned that they lifted the Black Oil, the soldiers burnt down the trucks, in less than five hours.”
The PTD- NUPENG national chairman said the union has taken a decision to stop lifting products at its Port Harcourt zone.
He said the same decision to stop loading nationwide would be taken by Monday except damages incurred as a result of the military action were addressed.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
