The Human Rights Monitoring Agenda has appealed to the Office of the Inspector General of Police and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood Jimoh, to release and investigate the circumstances surrounding the imprisonment of four petroleum tanker drivers at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre.
The appeal was made on Tuesday during a protest at the Ejigbo PTD Office, NNPC Depot in Ejigbo, Lagos, by HURMA’s Director, Buna Isiak.
The four drivers involved are Kabiru Salami, Kazeem Adeniran, Saheed Alegbeleye and Oladeji Rahmon.
Isiak stated that the drivers reported being attacked by a faction of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers at Ejigbo Police Station but were allegedly arrested, arraigned and remanded at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre, Lagos.
“We are deeply concerned that when both parties reported the incident at Ejigbo Police Station, the officers on duty allegedly arrested the four members who had gone to report the matter.
“It is further alleged that they were taken before different magistrates’ courts until a detention order was obtained under stringent and questionable conditions. The said individuals are currently being held at Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre,” he said.
Isiak warned that failure to address the issue urgently could further escalate tensions and threaten industrial harmony and public peace in Lagos State.
He accused some officers of Zone D, Lagos State Police Command, of complicity in the arrest and continued detention of the drivers.
The group claimed that the crisis leading to the incarceration of the four drivers could be traced to the refusal of the South West Zonal leadership of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, in conjunction with the umbrella body, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, to conduct a free and fair election to choose new executives after the tenure of the former executives had ended.
The group demanded an immediate and impartial investigation into the role played by officers at Ejigbo Police Station and Zone D, Lagos State, and also called for appropriate disciplinary measures against any officer found culpable of misconduct and abuse of power.
A former coordinator of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers in Ejigbo, Jimoh Abdurrahman, said the crisis has lingered since 2022 following the expiration of the former executive’s tenure in March 2022.
He added that attempts by Lagos zonal leaders of the PTD to impose new executives on members without conducting a free and fair election, which was strongly opposed by members, led to the intra-union crisis.
Abdurrahman stated that those who went to report the matter at the station were detained and subsequently arraigned in court the following day, while the accused faction was allegedly released.
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