Leadership of Tanker Drivers Association under the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Rivers State branch, has vowed to continue the ongoing strike until their demands are met by the people in authority.
The state Chairman of NUPENG, Tanker Drivers branch, Alex Agwanwor, who stated this in an interview on Monday, said that their members were being harassed by task force, police and other security agencies, stressing that until such harassments are stopped, the drivers will not load petroleum products.
Agwanwor disclosed that the latest in the series of harassments happened last week when some hoodlums operating as task force, harassed one of their members at Omagwa near Port Harcourt International Airport and beat him up with the assistance of some security agencies.
He noted that instead of the police and military personnel to intervene and save the driver of the tanker, they allegedly connived to humiliate the driver and destroyed his vehicle.
According to him, the lorry is still on the road. “We demand that the hoodlums be provided and made to pay for those things damaged in the cause of the attack”
Agwanwor denied the accusation that the drivers were always going on strike for petty issues, stating that last three months, police chased a vehicle and it ran into a lorry loaded with product, an incident he said caused the tanker to go up in flames thereby destroying the tanker, the product and injuring the driver.
“As I am speaking to you, the owner of the truck has lost the tanker, the driver has lost his job, and the owner of the product has also lost his investment. We need protection” he said.
He regretted the fact that those who were to protect them have joined in inflicting pains on their members, adding that his members would stay at home until they pay for the damaged truck.
The tanker drivers confirmed to our correspondent, Gladys Nweke, that the leadership of the association has taken the matter up with Ikwerre LG Council caretaker committee chairman, Police, Army and DSS. However, they added that they were yet to agree on any term.
Agwanwor disclosed that his members have suffered untold hardship in the hands of the task force and security agencies, and would not return to work until the matter has been properly resolved.
It would be recalled that tanker drivers, last Wednesday, embarked on strike over what they described as harassment of their members.
The strike has caused queues to reappear in most filling stations in Port Harcourt and its environs.
