The aggrieved workers, suing for themselves and as concerned members of PENGASSAN, NMDPRA branch, filed the case under suit number NICN/ABJ/307/2025.
They are seeking a court declaration that, in line with the PENGASSAN Constitution of 2022, no caretaker committee should oversee a branch’s affairs for more than three months without conducting an election.
Defendants in the suit include PENGASSAN, its National President, Festus Osifo; General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa; and five members of the caretaker committee — Tony Izogba, Gbolahan Akinyo, Okechukwu Nwanko, Abba Safana, and Polycarp Ihejirika.
The case marks another phase in the internal crisis rocking PENGASSAN’s NMDPRA branch, where over 40 members were suspended earlier by the union’s national leadership.
This development adds to a string of disputes between PENGASSAN and some of its other branches, including those in Shell, Chevron, and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
Recently, the National Industrial Court in Lagos ordered parties involved in a similar leadership dispute at PENGASSAN’s Chevron branch to maintain peace pending the court’s final decision.
Justice Joyce Onugba-Damachi, who presided over that case, cautioned the warring parties to respect the union’s constitution and the authority of the court.
At the heart of these disputes are allegations by members that the national leadership’s decision to dissolve branch executives and appoint caretaker committees violates the union’s constitution and undermines internal democracy.
