This is lengthy, please take your time to read through

In the heat of the Occupy Nigeria protests along with the NLC strike, we were being summoned to Abuja for a meeting. Equally unnerving is the announcement that the Airspace would be temporarily opened to facilitate the meeting.

When a Viable Union meets a Recalcitrant Government, something’s got to give. Until the January 2012 watershed, Nigerians had become used to the Oshiomole-esque kind of strike, and the pattern had become predictable. The Government announces an increment, NLC demands a ‘status quo or nothing’ and all of a sudden, pulls a volte face and goes into negotiations.

The Obasanjo government had, between 1999-2007, hiked the pump price successively from N20 to N 30 (June 1, 2000), amidst mass action, came down to N 25, and eventually bent further to N 22, on June 13 the same year. On January 1, 2002, Obasanjo increased the petrol pump price from N 22 to N 26 , and on June 23, 2003, just after he was sworn-in for his second term as president, Obasanjo again increased the fuel price to N34 and then to N40.Obasanjo’s administration actually hiked the price of fuel seven times with the last one on May 27, 2007, two days to his exit from office, when he raised it from N65 to N70.

The Yar Adua administration was burdened with the unpleasant task of negotiating an ‘inherited’ decision with the Labour Union, and reversed the N70 pump price to N65. Intense negotiations however continued on the deregulation of the downstream sector.

The Oil and Gas Unions, PENGASSAN and NUPENG gave a conditional support for deregulation; that the ‘government must provide the necessary succour and palliative measures to assuage the impact of import-driven deregulation within the set timeframe’

PENGASSAN also provided a further condition, that the ‘Original PIB, as drafted by the Rilwanu Lukman Oil and Gas Sector Implementation Committee (OGIC) be implemented’. The Petroleum Industry Bill, as originally drafted, was to eventually end Government interference in the Oil and Gas Sector, and eventually provide a framework for the growth of the Oil Industry and end the inherent Corruption spawned from a Subsidized Market that was import driven.

The Goodluck Jonathan administration, amidst a façade of intense consultation, would spin a notorious surprise on January 1, 2012 with a 117% increment from N65 to N141.

For the first time in the history of pump price hike, protests sprang from a Rag-Tag team of Youths while Labour was still sprawling from lethargy. The Occupy Nigeria logo and T-Shirts sprang up and spates of peaceful demonstrations commenced.

Eventually, the NLC/TUC would announce an ‘Indefinite Strike Action’ commencing January 9, 2012.

Consequently, PENGASSAN issued the directive below to members:

January 8, 2012

To All Branches, Zones and CWC members

RE: STRIKE DIRECTIVE

This is to inform all members of the CWC, Zonal & Branch Executive Committee that the indefinite strike action scheduled from Monday January 9, 2012 in protest against Government approach to Subsidy Removal will go on as directed.

The strike Monitoring Teams at all levels shall ensure that essential services are maintained while all our members are strongly advised to stay at home.

The strike monitoring teams shall go round to assess compliance and give reports through the Team Leaders.

The National Secretariat shall give all information and directive on further development.

Aluta Continua!! Victoria Asserta !!

At this time, I had joined the ‘Rag-Tag Team’. Setting out to Ojota in the wee hours of January 9th 2012 did not come without apprehensions. Parents who saw the horrors of the June 12 agitations did not want their children involved in any struggle. Moreover, Nigerians had begun to see protests as ‘NLC declared Public Holidays’ at the end of each Strike, pump prices never get reverted to status quo ante. I went, anyway, and before my eyes, I saw the gathering grow to a record ground-breaking watershed that sent strong signals to the Jonathan administration. Not so many Nigerians would realise the level of fear the Ojota Rallies generated in the heart of government, and even Labour Leaders.

For the next five days, I’d set out to Ojota, and by evening, hold meetings and plot strategies for the next day.

NLC’s decision to go into negotiations with the Government in spite of the earlier stance of ‘Revert first, we discuss later’ sent the first distress signal for the heavy blow that would be dealt the Occupy Nigeria movement.

The Save Nigeria Group (SNG) switched the strategy and methodology of protests in Nigeria. Until January 9th, Nigerian protests had been limited to Tyre burnings, and long marches. No one had ever thought gathering in one spot could make such an impact. SNG was however, not alone. Loose coalitions emerged all over, with Ikoyi spinning a great surprise, Corporate Moguls, Celebrities, Medical Directors, amongst others joined the throng. No one would forget Ali Baba’s Truck in a hurry.

For me, the high-point was seeing Muhammed Fawehinmi, the Son of the late human-rights activist/legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi coming for the Rally in his Wheelchair.

There however, remained a grey-area/loop-hole the Government would cash into: The Convener of the Save Nigeria Group was the running mate of General Buhari in the 2011 elections. This normally would mean nothing in a sane society where freedom of speech/association is sacrosanct. Unfortunately, in a Winner-Takes-All society like ours, IT IS A CRIME TO BE IN THE OPPOSITION! The ballot is meant to be the bullet that kills your Freedom of Speech!

It is worthy of note, however, that when the Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi became silent shortly after running for Presidency under the flag of his National Conscience Party, the general populace appealed to him not to be quiet. But then, that’s another musing for another day.

Against this backdrop, I found the Abuja summons unnerving and initially resolved not to go. What if the meeting turned out to be a ‘Settlement Meeting’?

My good friend, Gbenga Sesan as well as others in the ‘Rag-Tag team’ asked me a question: ‘If you do not go, how would you know what happened?’ At that point, I made up my mind to go, and ensure I cover my Transportation expenses myself. That would be another obstacle, considering the Strike and the draining out of most ATM machines at that time. Gbenga facilitated my ticket fare to Abuja and I got some personal funds on standby for my return.

By Saturday, January 14th 2012, I had met with other PENGASSAN members and we headed for Abuja. We had arrived at the Hotel venue before it all became clear: All Labour Leaders from NLC/TUC had been summoned to Abuja! As a matter of fact, in a ‘We know where you live’ manner, we were lodged in the same hotel wing. This was coming on the heels of the directive issued by PENGASSAN to commence a Systematic Shutdown from midnight of that same Saturday the 14th January, 2012.

The Hotel was a hub of events, from Reporters nodding off on chairs clutching their Panasonic to Union leaders split into several camps, from those sympathetic to GEJ to those who had been part of the Ojota and Abuja rallies and wanted nothing but a total showdown. Apparently fed up with the NLC/TUC leadership insisting on the fact that they were accountable to various NEC (National Executive Council) members, they had been told to summon us all to Abuja. I would later discover upon checking out of the Hotel that all Hotel Bills (Lodging and Feeding) were on NLC/TUC account; that was huge, considering the number of Unions and Leaders.

A lot of Nigerians might not know this, but NUPENG and PENGASSAN were/are still licking the wounds sustained in the 1994 June 12 actualization struggle. Pascal Bafyau of the NLC had betrayed NUPENG/PENGASSAN when the Oil Workers’ Union went ahead with the Shutdown. Pascal Bafyau (NLC) walked free while Frank Kokori (NUPENG) and Milton Dabibi (PENGASSAN) went to jail and remained in Prison Custody without trial till June 16th 1998, a week after the death of General Abacha.

The likes of Asari Dokubo had been making personal calls to threaten the Leadership of the Oil Workers’ Union.

In spite of all these, PENGASSAN NEC meeting held that evening in the Hotel. Tribal/Political sentiments were rife at the onset, ‘nothing must happen to Jonathan’, ‘the day you kill a madman, na im you go know say e get family’ ‘we should not be used by these Politicians, is it Bakare that did not even win a Local government?’ In essence, those who went to negotiate directly with Government had claimed that the Lagos struggle had been ‘hijacked by Politicians’ .Comrade Peter Esele himself had said ‘We’ve lost Lagos (to Politicians), we’d have lost Abuja too, but we were there to make sure the Politicians did not hijack it’.

The PENGASSAN Chairman presided over the PENGASSAN meeting. Along the line, we were addressed by one of the 1994 PENGASSAN detainees, who reminded us that Posterity will judge whatever decision we made that night. He reminded us that although neither himself, Kokori nor others who went to jail in the heat of the struggle had anything physical to show for their struggle, they had a clear conscience about the decision they made. He, however, advised should we opt for the systematic shutdown; we should make sure we had all returned to the safety of our bases before a total shutdown.

Eventually, a unanimous decision was made to go ahead with the Systematic shutdown. Truth is, a total shutdown would invariably throw the Nation into darkness, among other things. For the Old Oil Wells, it would take a sizeable time span to get the Wells back to Optimum Production. In essence, a shutdown is an economic Coup d’etat; that was why Kokori and Dabibi back then were held for ‘treason’.

We sang our Solidarity Song, unsure what would befall us all with the decision, but with the calm assurance that Posterity would judge us for good….while the Communiqué was being edited for print, Comrade Peter Esele came to chat with us. He told us how scared the Government had become and how a Minister was even begging that the Union accepts even a marginal increase to N67 so that the President won’t be seen as weak.

Unknown to us all, the NLC Chairman had gone on Air to pull the greatest Coup on PENGASSAN. He had announced on our behalf that we were not shutting down. Funny how you are in a meeting and made a decision, only to hear a contrary thing on the Social Media who had access to TV that was to cover our Meeting!

The Ghost of 1994 had come calling; we left the Hotel in haste the following morning, my family and friends worrying about my safety. By Sunday, we were back at our bases without a clue how it all changed. I was still in a haze when Omar and Esele came on air. I’d have sworn I saw Omar dictating to Esele what they would tell Nigerians before Esele lowered the Mic from his mouth. Soldiers had been deployed to crush Ojota, and Labour was announcing to Nigerians that from a vantage point of victory, she preferred to Kiss Defeat (Kiss the Feet). That was a Mystery I could not understand, even as an eye witness.

I never recovered…I hope I do someday.

http://www.watchinglagos.com/2013/01/how-nlc-and-tuc-betrayed-occupynigeria.html

Put your trust in a man and he will betray you.

Please can u summarize it Its been a long day!!!

*Yawns*.....

Pheeeew....Glad I read that. Every man has a price. If God doesn't save this cesspit called Nigeria, who will?

so NLC [Comrade Peter Esele and his gang of thieves] sold Nigerians.
Anyway God is watching.

Why is the insider just voicing out now? Why didn't PEGASSAN abi werin b dem name no deny werin Omar tok abt total shut down?

They are true betrayers... Mtchew.. *though i no read d post*

So how is this news? Like we never knew what happened before.

Labor has a history of betrayals, i expected nothing better from them, the only good thing they did was calling
the strike, after that there was nothing left for those opportunists to do.BTW when next we are starting a revolution
could you and other members of the "organizing committee" pick a better name than occupynigeria.All "occupy" movements have a
tendency of failure and i was sad when ours adopted the unfortunate name.

Hmmm... Funny enough I thought I was the only one who saw NLC's move as a backstage settlement from FG. I still think the same of Oshiomhole and the many fruitless strikes in his time as NLC president.

Make dem dey play Nigerians dey go. Most of us would never realise it. Most of those who realise it do not really care. Those who care are usually too powerless to do anything about it.

wild child: Why is the insider just voicing out now? Why didn't PEGASSAN abi werin b dem name no deny werin Omar tok abt total shut down?

. This is the right time. Cos of the confidentilly of the info and position of the insider.

Like say we nor know before say ghana-must-go done exchange hands abeg NEXT chapter jorrr!

engineerd: Please can u summarize it Its been a long day!!!

At 3:50am?

That is why i love the Tahrir Square gathering in Egypt.whenever any uprising against the Government kicks off they dont need any groups like PENGASSON,NLC or NUPENG to lead them because they know there will be sell out.Instead the masses takes their destiny into their hands by being their own organisers and they do not need negotiators instead they give the Govt fire for fire until the Government cry out and submit to their demands.That is what Nigerians need and we should not wait for these pressure groups to lead the match because the Nigerian factor will sure come into play that is sell out and political hijacking of the situation.

wild child: Why is the insider just voicing out now? Why didn't PEGASSAN abi werin b dem name no deny werin Omar tok abt total shut down?

if you had read the story/ account of the insider, you will know that a repeat of what happened in June 1996 would have happened to anybody who raised a contrary opinion.

NLC/TUC, is one of the reasons why a successful demonstration can never be carried out by Nigerians.
Make we dey dia they deceive ourselves. Moreover this ain't a surprise.

Story Story... Stroy!!

I knew something was amiss immediately TUC and Pengasson called off the strike.

Nigerians forget easily that's why its easy for them to be trampled upon(minus me sha).
No fuel price increase can be taken in Nigeria without the knowledge of the NLC & TUC hierachy loooooong before the prices are increased because they are amongst those who determine what is a "fair" price to Nigerians and they also have their cut on every liter of petroleum product sold in the country, in fact the decision to increase the price of petroleum products come january 2012 had been reached way back october/november 2011 and it was in the news although most Nigerians prefer watching paloma & super story than watching the news. That's also one of the reasons I laughed when the labour unions decided to "negotiate" something they'd agreed upon tey tey just to deceive gullible Nigerians and guess what ? It worked like magic with a caveat (complete subsidy removal by april 2012) the NLC/TUC agreed patapata. I guess you all missed that part too butdont worry the govt go soon remind una this year when the new financial year resumes by maybe march/april.
ALL GOVERNORS in Nigeria ACTUALLY steam rolled the FG into the removal of petroleum subsidy, we all know the governors are in a very powerful fraternity called the "Governors Forum" which have their stooges in the national assembly with said stooges having the power to cause countless headaches eg impeachment proceedings against the presidency. Well these governors including ACN o, APGA o, LP o including PDP decide they need more money to "develop" their respective states and the only way to get such money in abundance is by the total removal of petroleum subsidy so any governor who came out to support any of you protesters just dey play una wayo. If they really hated the FG's decision, they could have rejected any surplus additions to their regular monthly allocations in that spirit.
What we should be asking ourselves now is why can't our beloved national assembly members reduce their emoluments by at least 3 quarters after all they work part time. That's a protest I will support.
What have our respective governors been doing with the SURE - P money they've been receiving since january/february 2012 ? Let's start throwing the stones in our respective homes before going to Abuja.
I believe subsidy MUST go but only after we have functional refineries sha.

Smh this country is unredeemable.

Do you expect me to read all this shiit

eagle,eye:


if you had read the story/ account of the insider, you will know that a repeat of what happened in June 1996 would have happened to anybody who raised a contrary opinion[b].

NLC/TUC, is one of the reasons why a successful demonstration can never be carried out by Nigerians[/b].
Make we dey dia they deceive ourselves. Moreover this ain't a surprise.

Oahray: Hmmm... Funny enough I thought I was the only one who saw NLC's move as a backstage settlement from FG. I still think the same of Oshiomhole and the many fruitless strikes in his time as NLC president.

Make dem dey play Nigerians dey go. Most of us would never realise it. Most of those who realise it do not really care. Those who care are usually too powerless to do anything about it.

Truly, we Nigerians suffer from amnesia! We forget too easily!

Take Oshiomole for example: This fiery pretender that blares his eyes like an owl was supposed to be Negotiating on behalf of Nigerians during one of OBJ's incessant fuel hikes.

A second example is Reuben Abatti, the fiery Nespaper Editor who mesmerized us with his incisive pen as he pilloried a "one bad government after another".

These two were trusted by Nigerians to "broker a good deal" with OBJ, during the fuel crisis. There REMIT was that the Fed. Govt MUST reverse the fuel hikes and that was the message they were sent to DELIVER to OBJ in Abuja!

But alas, like our "Oni of Ife", during the 'Maradonic-somersault years" of IBB when the infamous "The Man (IBB) is talking sense" verdict was given by his Royal HighLowness after allegedly collecting sizable Ghana must Go Bags,

Oshiomole and Abati simply did a volt-face in Abuja and announced that the Strike has been called-off!
It is on record that Abati till date, could not explain that his piece of land in Abuja (as part of the deal) and that singular act catapulted Oshiomole into the club of mulch-millionaires and into government house (using the "Gift" he got from OBJ).

Does anyone remember that Yar Adua spokeman, Segun Adeniyi or whatever he is called, (he is now irrelevant anyway!) who before he became a "Govt-trumpet", wrote eloquently against Govt injustice to the citizens?
Appointed into office, he became the greatest "lie-spinner" during Yar Aduas days as President.
He was one of those who told the nation how Yar Adua was doing more Push-Ups and running 100M-dash in a time faster that Usain Bolt when in fact, the man has passed-on in a Saudi Hospital1

Bottom-line: NIGERIAN Union Leaders are TRAITORS.
Any "Revolution" that would change Nigeria for GOOD will be spontaneous, furious, bloody and will be borne out of acute and prolonged suffering of Nigerians.

That is how it happened in other countries and Nigeria wont be different.
It is our individual selfishness that is our greatest enemy, in putting those thieves where they (their necks) belong: On a Guillotine!

Lastpage!

And dont forget that "KANU" of YEA (Youth Earnestly ask/want Abacha)

Read or leave am na.GEJ boys, una don come.

pDude: Do you expect me to read all this shiit

all dis one na big story.
na today nlc nd tuc don dey do am?
pdp,nlc,fg,lg and state govt ,all of them are the same .
never trust a nigerian politician and nlc .all of dem na d same .there is nothing new or expository in this write just a confirmation of what 160 milion nigerians know already

If u cldn't talk den, foreva remain silent! D occupy Nigeria project was organised by bitter politicians, funded by the oil cabal & betrayed by the labour unions!
We accuse d govt of helping demselvs 2 d subsidy money, they wantd to remove it & we protest abt it(?).
Till we,Nigerians stop our attitud of 'hero-worship' instd of standing for wat is right alwaz, we'll continue to suffer memory loss & be used like a roll-on by our recycled leaders/heroes.
Nuff said on ds mata!

utumunta: If u cldn't talk den, foreva remain silent! D occupy Nigeria project was organised by bitter politicians, funded by the oil cabal & betrayed by the labour unions!
We accuse d govt of helping demselvs 2 d subsidy money, they wantd to remove it & we protest abt it(?).
Till we,Nigerians stop our attitud of 'hero-worship' instd of standing for wat is right alwaz, we'll continue to suffer memory loss & be used like a roll-on by our recycled leaders/heroes.
Nuff said on ds mata!

Are you sure you woke up well this morning with your complete senses? No offense intended. Thank you.

Everybody knew then that, NLC and TUC were the moles the FG used to suppressed the only struggle that have so far united Nigerians without recourse to religion, ethnic tribe and status (I never participated though). I was pained that Nigerians were sold for peanuts. Anyway, an opportunity may still arise again and I hope Nigerians will NEVER allow moles to sell them out again.