Thugs Linked To Senator Ubah Attack Capital Oil Workers Demanding Four-year Unpaid Salaries

Workers of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, who convened at Sanya Truck Park in Lagos to deliberate on their unpaid four-year salaries and unremitted pension of over 10 years, have been attacked by thugs linked to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.

The thugs were led by one Onyeka Ifemenam, a Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers official (Capital Oil VIO).

It was learnt that Ifemenam had earlier had a discussion with one of the workers, Akujobi Ozoemena Barnaby, on October 5, 2020, and said he was instructed by Ubah to warn the workers to end the agitations against him or will be attacked.

Two officials of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights, Chinedu Bosah and Rufus Olusesan, who were part of the meeting, were brutally beaten by the thugs.

Mr Uzoma Njoku and other workers, who were severely attacked by the armed thugs, sustained different degrees of injuries and are presently undergoing treatment in the hospital.

The thugs, who descended ruthlessly on the workers, stole smartphones and other belongings of the workers and even went further to confiscate their vital documents.

When some of the workers rushed to FESTAC Police Station to lodge complaints during the attack, the policemen on duty refused to intervene. 

It took the intervention of some military men attached to OP MESA to rescue the workers, who were kidnapped and tortured for over one hour by the hoodlums.

Some of the workers alleged that Ifeanyi Ubah and the management stopped paying their salaries since 2016 and before then it was paid in bits, leaving a backlog at every point in time.

“He does not pay by payslip, he transfers money into workers’ bank accounts without itemising the breakdown of the salary/allowance components.

“The company has refused to document workers’ employment contract and refused to issue employment letters to most of the workers in violation of Section 7 of the Labour Act and stopped workers from joining the union,” of the attacked workers said.

The workers, it was learnt, had earlier approached the senator officially to enter into a negotiation but he didn’t respond.

However, CDWR has called on the police to investigate the attack on the workers and bring the perpetrators to book.