A coalition of civic actors under the umbrella of the Coalition for Economic Liberation and Social Justice (CELSJ) has called on Nigerians to rise in their numbers against what it described as “a calculated plot by oil principalities and their allies within the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to derail the gains of the Dangote Refinery.”
The coalition, in a strongly worded statement issued after an emergency meeting in Abuja on Thursday night, accused the union of allegedly collecting whooping bribe from entrenched players in the oil importation cartel to sabotage the operations of the refinery.
The statement, signed by Comrade Godfrey Boma, President of CELSJ, warned that Nigerians would not fold their arms and watch vested interests hold the country hostage again.
“Barely forty-eight hours after the suspension of its strike, NUPENG has suddenly begun a new round of blackmail against the Dangote Refinery. We are reliably informed that reasonable amount of bribe has exchanged hands between oil principalities and some compromised union leaders to frustrate the refinery’s operations,” Boma said.
He added that the pattern of events showed a deliberate orchestration to force the refinery into endless disputes and delay its stabilisation, thereby pushing Nigeria back to dependency on imported fuel.
“Let it be known that Nigerians will never allow a handful of profiteers to sabotage a refinery that has already begun reshaping the country’s energy future. The same forces who built fortunes off decades of importation rackets are the ones now using NUPENG to destabilise the industry. This is a direct attack on the Nigerian people, and it must not stand,” the coalition declared.
CELSJ also criticised what it described as the “reckless and unpatriotic posture” of the NUPENG leadership, accusing them of deliberately twisting the terms of the agreement reached with the refinery, federal authorities, and labour stakeholders.
“An agreement was freely entered into before the Department of State Services (DSS), the Minister of Finance, and the Ministry of Labour. That agreement provided for workers’ unionisation in line with extant labour laws. But within hours of the ink drying on that deal, NUPENG returned to the public space, raising false alarms and threatening fresh strikes. This is not labour unionism; this is sabotage on a grand scale,” Boma stressed.
The coalition urged Nigerians across all sectors to be vigilant, insisting that any attempt to destabilise the Dangote Refinery was tantamount to undermining national survival.
“Every kobo spent importing fuel is a direct theft of jobs, a direct sabotage of growth, and a direct burden on the Nigerian household. The Dangote Refinery is one of the few interventions that has begun to break the chains of dependency, and no cabal or compromised union must be allowed to drag us back into darkness,” CELSJ said.
The group further appealed to the federal government and security agencies not to allow “paid agents of the oil importation cartel” to hide under labour activism to weaken the refinery’s operations.
“We call on the DSS, the Ministry of Labour, and all security agencies to monitor NUPENG’s leadership closely. Nigerians will not tolerate another season of strikes designed and paid for by corrupt oil barons. Those who pocketed bribes to undermine national interest must be exposed and prosecuted without delay,” the statement read.
Boma called for massive nationwide mobilisation to protect the refinery against what he described as “internal enemies of progress.”
“This is a defining moment. Nigerians must come out en masse to say no to the agents of oil slavery. We must defend this refinery because it is our collective lifeline. NUPENG and their sponsors must understand that the days of holding Nigerians hostage with imported fuel rackets are gone forever,” the group declared.
