The Human Rights Monitoring Agenda has called on the Inspector-General of Police and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood Jimoh, to order the release of four petroleum tanker drivers currently held at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre.
The group made the appeal during a protest at the Petroleum Tanker Drivers office located at the NNPC Depot in Ejigbo, Lagos.
Speaking at the protest, HURMA Director, Buna Isiak, identified the detained drivers as Kabiru Salami, Kazeem Adeniran, Saheed Alegbeleye and Oladeji Rahmon.
Isiak alleged that the drivers were victims of an internal crisis within the tanker drivers’ union and had gone to lodge a complaint at the Ejigbo Police Station after they were reportedly attacked by a rival faction.
He, however, claimed that instead of addressing the complaint, officers on duty arrested the four men, arraigned them before different magistrates’ courts and subsequently secured a detention order that led to their remand at Kirikiri.
The rights advocate described the development as troubling, alleging that the detention was carried out under questionable circumstances.
He warned that failure by the authorities to urgently review the matter could heighten tensions within the union and disrupt industrial peace in Lagos State.
Isiak further accused some officers attached to Zone D of the Lagos State Police Command of playing a role in the arrest and continued incarceration of the drivers.
According to the group, the dispute that culminated in the arrests stemmed from disagreements over leadership succession within the Petroleum Tanker Drivers arm of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers.
HURMA alleged that the crisis began after the tenure of former executives expired in March 2022, claiming that efforts by the South-West zonal leadership to install new officials without conducting an election were resisted by members.
The group demanded an independent probe into the actions of officers at Ejigbo Police Station and Zone D, urging the police authorities to sanction any personnel found culpable of abuse of office.
A former coordinator of the tanker drivers in Ejigbo, Jimoh Abdurrahman, also linked the lingering dispute to the leadership vacuum created after the expiration of the previous executives’ tenure in 2022.
He maintained that members who opposed the alleged imposition of new leaders and reported the matter to the police were detained and arraigned the next day, while members of the opposing faction were reportedly released.