Court, Not Chaos: Ejigbo Crisis Tests NUPENG PTD Leadership
By The People’s Voice Nigeria News
Tensions erupted yesterday, February 24, 2026, at the Ejigbo depot of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) unit of NUPENG, as a faction led by Ganiyu Oyebola (a.k.a Ten Million) staged a protest against the elected PTD Ejigbo leadership headed by Comrade Nojeem Babatunde (a.k.a Omogbongbo).
The Ejigbo unit has reportedly been without a recognised executive since March 2022, with repeated calls for transparent elections ignored by the zonal heads, fueling tension within the union. The crisis escalated when Oyebola’s faction, which is not the elected leadership, engaged the Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA Global Resource Initiative) to speak on their behalf, accusing the elected PTD chairman’s supporters of intimidation and mismanagement.
According to the Ganiyu Oyebola-led faction, members of the Comrade Nojeem Babatunde faction allegedly attacked them at their base, leaving several individuals injured, some reportedly rushed to nearby hospitals — although no evidence has been provided to verify these hospitalisations. Oyebola’s group claims that when they went to the police station to report the incident, they encountered the opposing faction there, and police reportedly did not see injuries on the other faction.
Former PTD coordinators Ejigbo, Jimoh Abdulrahman (aka Dan Ilori), and former PTD Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) accused the Lagos Zonal Council leadership of attempting to impose executives rather than conduct elections. They stated the detained drivers were arrested while defending themselves at their depot base and seeking police intervention. The drivers insist their demand is for transparent, free, and fair elections, not opposition to the union, and claim the leadership has repeatedly ignored long-standing grievances, turning the depot base into a flashpoint for confrontations.
Despite these claims, four drivers from the Oyebola-led faction — Kabiru Taiye Salami, Kazeem Adeniran, Saheed Alegbeleye, and Oladeji Rahmon — were detained, and remain in custody at Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre under stringent court conditions.
Comrade Buna Olaitan Isiak, Executive Director of HURMA Global Resource Initiative, representing the Oyebola-led faction, called for the immediate release of the detained drivers, an impartial investigation into police conduct, and accountability for any officers found culpable.
Meanwhile, the legitimate faction led by Comrade Nojeem Babatunde (Omogbongbo) maintains that their members are following lawful union processes and that Oyebola’s protest was an attempt to undermine the election process.
The Ejigbo PTD crisis underscores the need for lawful resolution of union disputes. Civil society groups and union members have called on the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, the Attorney General, and the Inspector General of Police to intervene urgently, reiterating that justice must follow the law, not chaos, to safeguard workers’ rights and ensure industrial peace.
