Civil Society Organisations, Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative (EUYI), Guardians Of Democracy and Development Initiative (GoDDI) and 45 Others Civil Society groups, have sent a stern warning to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), the leading union in the petroleum downstream to quit “the sabotage against Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited”.
The CSOs also expressed full support for the sack of of over 3000 Nigerian workers who had, against the directive of Refinery management decided to join the union, a move believed by industry experts as an attempt to sabotage the refinery from within.
In a tersely worded press release signed by Comrade Danesi Momoh Prince and Igwe Ude-umanta, with copies made available to Journalists in Abuja, the group insisted that PENGASSAN members should leave Dangote Refinery alone and build their refineries if they want to protect the interest of their members.
The release read in part, “as patriotic Nigerians and watchdogs of the society, we are highly opposed to the meddlesome conduct of PENGASSAN. It is not in their place to interfere with the workings of a private company. They should leave Dangote Refinery alone and go establish their own refineries.
“It is on record that the four Nigerian refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna were working optimally until PENGASSAN came onboard. They sabotaged these refineries and destroyed the Nigerian economy with endless queues and strikes.
“How can we allow these same caliber of people to maliciously disrupt a $20 billion dollar investment exclusively owned by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, an investment that has placed Nigeria on the global map of oil exporter after decades of importing refined petroleum products?
“Let us reiterate that PENGASSAN is indeed an enemy of Nigeria. They created fuel queues across the country in times past to profit from them. Now that there are no queues, they’re angry and want to drag the country back. This is evil and sickening.”
The CSOs, while supporting the decision of Dangote Refinery to sack erring staff, called on well meaning Nigerians from all walks of life to rise up in unity and defend Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited against oil cabals and blackmailers.
“We stand solidly behind Dangote Refinery and support the sack of the Nigerian workers. PENGASSAN must never be allowed to hold Nigerians to ransom, let alone derailing private businesses. Nigerians must resist any diabolic attempt to harm such a national treasure under any pretext”, the release concluded.
