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The raging industrial dispute between the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Dangote business empire has deepened, as the union disowned the newly formed Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA), describing it as a “management-inspired fraud” designed to weaken and divide workers.

The DTCDA, which made a media appearance on Arise Television and in several newspapers over the weekend, had urged Nigerians to disregard NUPENG’s strike alert issued by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the union.

In a strongly worded statement jointly signed by Prince Williams Akporeha, President, and Olawale Afolabi, General Secretary, NUPENG rejected the group outright.

“We ask our members, members of the public, and independent-minded objective segments of the media to disregard DTCDA and its statements,” the union declared.

Explaining further, the statement said: “For the information of the public, the DTCDA is the association which Dangote Group of Companies has formed for the drivers to join compulsorily, rather than allowing drivers to join NUPENG, which is the only statutorily recognized union authorized to unionize Petroleum Tanker Drivers. The signatory to the statement of DTCDA, one Enoch Kanawa, is a lawyer, not a tanker driver.”

NUPENG also highlighted Kanawa’s background to support its claim:

“Kanawa was formerly the Executive Secretary of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) from 2001 to 2012. He left NARTO to become Legal Adviser to MRS Energy Limited, owned by Sayyu Aliu Dantata, and in 2019 came back to contest for the position of President of NARTO but was defeated by Yusuf Othman, the current President. These facts show without doubt and beyond controversy that the DTCDA is a management-inspired association, created by agents of Sayyu Aliu Dantata to cause confusion and spread misinformation.

The union further alleged that the DTCDA is directly tied to the Dangote empire and MRS Energy Limited, owned by Sayyu Aliu Dantata, a cousin of Aliko Dangote.

“DTCDA is the association formed by Sayyu Aliu Dantata, the owner of MRS. The Direct Trucking Company Limited is the recruiting company that was formed by him and Alhaji Aliko Dangote for the 10,000 CNG trucks they are importing. DTCDA was originally meant to be Dangote Transport Company. Its registered office is at 2, Tincan Island Port Road, Apapa, Lagos—the same official address of MRS Energy Limited,” NUPENG stated.

Reassuring its members and the public, the union dismissed fears of internal division:

“There is no division in our ranks and file. Our solidarity remains constant! For the union makes us strong!! Our solidarity remains constant, for the union makes us strong!”

With NUPENG threatening a nationwide strike against what it described as Dangote’s anti-union practices and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) placing workers nationwide on red alert, this fresh twist marks a dramatic escalation in what is shaping up to be one of the fiercest confrontations between organised labour and Africa’s richest business empire.

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