One of the stakeholders in the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of NUPENG in Lagos Zone, Comrade (Otunba) Oyetunde Omisore has given the General Secretary of the Union, Afolabi Olawale, 72 hours within which to resign his position.
The ultimatum started from Friday, May 24, 2024.
The PTD leader said if Olawale failed to resign, he would expose his alleged illicit financial flows in a petition to the DSS, ICPC, EFCC, Code of Conduct Bureau, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and other security agencies in the country.
Otunba Omisore also threatened to release to the media, the public, anti-graft bodies and all relevant security agents, many incriminating fiscal documents that contained various bank accounts in the name of PTD, which had the potential to send the General Secretary (Olawale) and the immediate past National Chairman of the Branch, Otunba Salimon Akanni Oladiti (NUPENG Trustee) and the Chairman, Lagos Zone of PTD, Comrade Gbolahan Saheed Adigun to jail.
According to the PTD leader, the duo (Olawale and Oladiti) were seen to be the signatories to those secret accounts which totally contravened the extant rules of the Union, adding that what they used the money remitted to those accounts for were unknown to anyone in the Branch.
He noted that if they failed to stop parading themselves as General Secretary and Trustee of the Union that they would be picked up in a matter of days for alleged reckless acquisition of wealth for themselves, while tanker drivers were dying, suffering and experiencing various hardships while traversing the length and breadth of Nigeria for the supply of Petroleum products and gas.
The PTD chieftain also drew the President of the union, Williams Akporeha, into the fray, accusing him of incompetence, lacklustre posture and lack of capacity to run the Union.
On behalf of PTD, Omisore maintained that he wanted freedom for the Tanker Drivers who had been impoverished by Comrade Afolabi through his obnoxious laws and highandedness, which were alien to the known guidelines of the union.
In a statement on Wednesday, Comrade Omisore stated, “I salute the media very specially for standing with us and for being on the side of the truth at all times and I still urge you to continue to beam your searchlight on NUPENG so that Nigerians and other stakeholders including the government can know the truth.
“Afolabi cannot continue to use divide-and-rule tactics to destroy PTD. His time is up; his shenanigans are completely halted. It is high time for PTD to breathe; we therefore give marching orders to Afolabi Olawale to resign his position as General Secretary within 72 hours, starting from Friday, May 24, 2024, or face national disgrace as we are set to expose his fresh illicit financial flows to the DSS, ICPC, EFCC, Code of Conduct Bureau, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and other security agencies in the country.
“Both Afolabi and Oladiti are the signatories to those secret accounts which totally contravene the extant rules of the Union, and the money remitted to those accounts are unknown to anyone in the Branch nor what they are meant for is known. The Lagos Zone Chairman of PTD, Comrade Gbolahan Saheed Adigun is also part of the criminal act, who deals in collecting the cash and remitting it to designated bank accounts for his masters.
“This is pure corruption and nothing more. Meanwhile, the President of the Union cannot be spared in this. He has displayed gross incompetence, lacklustre posture, and lack of capacity to lead a vibrant Union like NUPENG.
“But I assure them that if Oladiti, Williams, and Afolabi fail to stop parading themselves as President, General Secretary and Trustee of the Union they will be picked up in a matter of days for recklessly acquiring wealth for themselves, why tanker drivers are dying, suffering and experiencing various hardships on the road while traversing the length and breadth of Nigeria for the supply of Petroleum products and gas in order to keep the socio-economic activities of the country in place, against all odds.
“Afolabi has, singlehanded, eliminated the elders/veterans forum from NUPENG. Through fiat and gross illegality, he stopped our trucks from loading in all the petroleum depots in the country, therefore denying the same tanker drivers their livelihoods, same drivers you swore to protect and defend, this is pure wickedness and abuse of office. He now uses more than 15 body guards, turning himself into an emperor and terror in the union. His highandedness is above the roof.
“This is the same Afolabi that refused to attend a 12-month course at National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS) Kuru, Jos, after payments had been made by the union; NUPENG may never get such opportunity again; several leaders of the union have attended similar courses, including our former President Hon. (Comrade) Peter Akpatason.
“I am sure NLC will never forgive Afolabi and NUPENG for forfeiting that slot for the year in view. This in itself is a sackable offence.
“Afolabi turned PTD to his cash cow and he is milking the branch dry, on a daily basis and we don’t see him going to other branches of NUPENG especially the formal sector of the union, yet he won’t allow us run our election in our own way as recognized by our bye-law or guidelines.
“We are saying enough of imposition of stooges and surrogates; a court of record gave an order that delegates conference should not hold in Ibadan, they went ahead flouted the order, same Court said no National executive must be removed from office and that status quo ante must be maintained, but NUPENG resorted to self help and flagrantly engaged in contempt of court. Nobody can hoodwink us on how to run the Union, not even Afolabi. I think his lack of capacity as a field organizer in the union gave him the impetus to destroy the union, but he has completely failed.
“This is the same Afolabi who took all members of national executives of PTD to Court resulting in being remanded in Prisons on two occasions. He lacks knowledge about the workings of the Union. If he was well grounded he would have realized that there are mechanisms put in place by NUPENG to resolve crisis within, no matter how critical they look.”
Omisore stated further: “We are ready to expose his many incriminating fiscal documents that contain various bank accounts in the name of PTD which will outrightly send him to jail, and both the General Secretary and the immediate past National Chairman of the Branch, Otunba Salimon Akanni Oladiti are culpable.
“The extortion of our members must stop, and we are tired of being used as attack dogs against the government. Enough is enough. We also gathered concrete evidence that Oladiti, Afolabi and Williams have obtained citizenship from another country overseas which cost them hundreds of millions of naira, they should also tell us where they got the money from.
“Afolabi is expected to serve NUPENG with diligence, discipline, and the highest level of integrity at all times. Upholding these values is not just a duty but a necessity. He must convince his employer that he is responsible and humane in his conduct, for it reflects the pride he takes in his role as a supposed union leader. He has shown that he is not an embodiment of excellence but of militancy and viciousness, which has grossly destroyed every layer of the union.”
“Afolabi should also convince PTD and NUPENG beyond reasonable doubt on how he got his personal house in the USA where his two children are currently living . We also got the information from good authority that his children are undergraduates in an American University. How did a man whose salary is less than 500,000 naira a month acquire such inexplicable wealth overnight? He needs to explain and convince the anti-graft bodies on this. We thank the whistle-blowers for exposing him and his ilk.” The statement concluded.
