Produce perpetrators of Lekki shooting or we go on strike, PENGASSAN tells Buhari

Members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have threatened to withdraw their services across country if President Muhammadu Buhari doesn’t produce security agents who attacked harmless protesters at the Lekki toll gate.

PENGASSAN, the country’s second-biggest labor group in the oil and gas sector said the unfortunate incident of shootings of peaceful #endsars protesters not just at Lekki toll gate but all over the country falls short of any standard of civilization globally of handling peaceful protest in any democratic system.

Nigerian oil workers call on president Buhari to provide adequate security for the protesters in line with democratic norms and to immediately produce the perpetrators.

“Failure of which we will convene an emergency meeting of our National Executive Council (NEC) to review the happenings in the Nation with the view of withdrawing our services Nationwide,” PENGASSAN said in a statement signed by its President and General Secretary, Festus Osifo and Lumumba Okugbawa.

The Oil union called on the President who is also the Commander in Chief of the Nigeria Armed Forces to seize this opportunity to provide uncommon leadership and stir the ship of the nation to safety.

“Our hearts bleed for innocent Nigerians who lost their lives or got injured in this senseless and inhumane action of the armed security agents of the government,” PENGASSAN said.

PENGASSAN acknowledged that it’s not against the government arresting any hoodlum who may want to hide under the guise of the peaceful protest to perpetrate violence.

“To unleash this level of cruelty on peaceful and harmless protesters who were holding the National flag, singing the National anthem in demonstration of their belief in the course of the country by killing and injuring them is highly condemnable,” PENGASSON said.

Nigeria, which gets about 90 percent of its foreign exchange from oil exports, is reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a plunge in crude prices since March.

While the oil market has since rebounded and stabilized, the collapse slashed government revenue and left the continent’s top oil producer facing a recession the second time in four years.