The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has launched a blistering attack on Senator Adams Oshiomhole, declaring the former labor leader “persona non grata” and likening him to the “Judas Iscariot of Nigerian trade unionism” over his recent comments regarding an industrial dispute.
The severe condemnation comes after Oshiomhole, the Senator representing Edo North, publicly criticized the strike action by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) that was initiated in protest of the alleged mass sack of over 800 engineers at the Dangote Refinery.
Speaking on national television last Friday, Oshiomhole had described the PENGASSAN strike as “hasty and unfair to other workers,” arguing that such actions could jeopardize more jobs than they aimed to protect.
’Monumental Betrayal’
In a scathing statement jointly signed by NUPENG President Williams Akporeha and General Secretary Afolabi Olawale, the union accused the Senator of monumental betrayal and attempting to rationalize corporate oppression.
NUPENG declared that Oshiomhole has “irretrievably lost the moral right and legitimacy before Nigerian workers,” and confirmed the organization will no longer participate in any event featuring him.
“We witness with utter disappointment a former labour leader now transformed into a vocal advocate for corporate oppression, actively campaigning against the very rights he once championed,” the statement read.
The union dismissed Oshiomhole’s comments as both a distortion of Nigerian labor law and International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions. NUPENG further accused him of “historical revisionism and political amnesia” for choosing to focus his criticism on the strike rather than the mass dismissal of workers for attempting to exercise their right to unionize.
The statement concluded with the strongest possible rebuke: “The Undistinguished position of Adams Oshiomhole on the PENGASSAN strike qualifies him as the JUDAS ISCARIOT of Nigerian Trade Unionism. What a monumental betrayal of the cause of the working class!”
