The Human Rights Monitoring Agenda has urged the Inspector-General of Police and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood Jimoh, to review the continued detention of four petroleum tanker drivers remanded at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre.
The appeal was made on Tuesday during a demonstration held at the Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ office at the NNPC Depot, Ejigbo, Lagos.
Addressing protesters, the group’s Director, Buna Isiak, listed the affected drivers as Kabiru Salami, Kazeem Adeniran, Saheed Alegbeleye and Oladeji Rahmon.
He alleged that the men had gone to the Ejigbo Police Station to report an attack by a rival faction within the tanker drivers’ union but were instead taken into custody by officers on duty.
According to him, the four drivers were subsequently arraigned before separate magistrates’ courts, where a remand order was obtained, leading to their incarceration at Kirikiri under what he described as stringent conditions.
Isiak expressed concern over the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention, warning that leaving the matter unresolved could inflame tensions within the union and disrupt industrial stability in the state.
He also accused certain officers attached to Zone D of the Lagos State Police Command of involvement in the arrest and sustained detention of the drivers.
The organisation traced the root of the dispute to a leadership crisis within the Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ arm of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers.
It claimed that the rift began after the expiration of the former executives’ tenure in March 2022, alleging that attempts by the South-West zonal leadership to install new officers without conducting elections were resisted by members.
The group called for an independent and transparent investigation into the role played by officers at Ejigbo Police Station and Zone D, insisting that any personnel found culpable should face disciplinary measures.
Speaking on the lingering crisis, a former Ejigbo PTD coordinator, Jimoh Abdurrahman, said the disagreement had persisted since 2022 following the end of the previous leadership’s tenure.
He alleged that members who reported the matter to the police were detained and charged the following day, while individuals from the opposing faction were freed.
