By Victor Young

Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, on Thursday, issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to, among others, arrest and prosecute a mobile policeman that allegedly killed a petrol station worker on April 5, at a filling station in Abia State, or risk industrial unrest.

NUPENG, in a statement, condemned and berated an official of the Presidential Task Force, PTF, on coronavirus, COVID-19, for allegedly twisting the fact over the killing of the 26 years old Chibuisi Chikezie Okameme, who was on duty at Greenmac Energy Limited, Umuahia Road, Aba, in Abia.

The statement by President and General Secretary of NUPENG, Prince William Akporeha and Afolabi Adewale, respectively, among others, said: “We demand an immediate retraction of the lie that the deceased was not killed by a mobile policeman, but by hoodlums.

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“This retraction must be on the same media platform the PTF official used to tell the lie to everyone.

“We also want the removal or resignation of the said PTF official, immediate prosecution of the Mobile Policeman involved and immediate payment of compensation to the family of the deceased by the Federal Government.”

Insisting that its demands must be met within seven days starting from Thursday, NUPENG said “we implore the Nigeria media to visit No 29/30, Greenmac Energy Limited in new Umuahia Road, Aba, in Abia State, for proper and diligent fact-finding and interview of the family of the deceased, his employer, the Abia State Police Command and other witnesses.

“Our Union takes lives of our members very serious and precious and we shall do all we can to get justice.

“NUPENG also uses this medium to appeal to our members across the country, who have been saddened and devastated by this wicked lie against the dead, to still be patient, continue to render their services to the nation and exercise restraints until the national secretariat of the Union issues further directives, which may come sooner than later.”

The statement on the NUPENG ultimatum noted that it condemned “the uncharitable and very provocative lie of the Federal Government official on the national network television on the facts concerning the killing of one of our members, Chibuisi Chikezie Okameme, aged 26, a petrol station worker in Abia State.

“He was killed by a mobile policeman while discharging his legitimate duties as a petrol station worker and in the frontline of the struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday, April 5.

“The Union takes serious exception to this blatant lie and attempt to twist the fact of the incident. For the record, the policeman in question is currently in detention and he has made a confessional statement to the dastardly act and postmortem carried out on the deceased, wherein bullet wound was identified and specimen of bullet removed from his body.

“So we find this lie to be very callous, wicked and uncalled for. We wonder how an elderly person and a minister of the Federal Republic will be lying against the dead. NUPENG argued that said official was not fit to hold such an exalted office in Nigeria.”

Vanguard