A wave of discontent is sweeping through the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) following allegations of undemocratic conduct and abuse of office against the association’s national president, Festus Osifo, and general secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa.
Over 500 members of PENGASSAN’s Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) branch have accused the national leadership of breaching the union’s constitution and eroding internal democracy.
In a petition to the Registrar of Trade Unions at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the aggrieved members claimed that repeated attempts to engage the national secretariat over unresolved issues had been ignored. They alleged that their letters and formal communications were left unanswered, forcing them to seek official intervention from the federal government.
At the centre of the dispute is the decision by the national executive to appoint a Caretaker Committee (CTC) to oversee the NMDPRA branch—an action the petitioners described as unconstitutional and contrary to PENGASSAN’s electoral processes.
According to the members, the move violated the association’s constitution, which provides for democratically elected branch executives rather than appointed committees. They also faulted the leadership for going ahead with the inauguration of the caretaker team despite the Ministry of Labour’s directive for all parties to suspend action pending resolution.
The petitioners insisted that the decision undermines the integrity of PENGASSAN and threatens the union’s reputation as a champion of workers’ rights. They called on the federal government to wade into the matter to safeguard transparency and restore democratic order within the association.
As tensions rise, concerns are mounting that the internal crisis could fracture unity within one of Nigeria’s most influential labour unions in the oil and gas sector.
