By Bimbola Oyesola
The National President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PENGASSAN), Comrade Festus Osifo, has emerged as new President of the Trade Union Congress, (TUC).
The election that produced Osifo held on Tuesday, July 19th at the International Conference Centre Abuja, during the 12th Triennial National Delegate Conference of TUC.
The conference had held in spite of a court injunction stopping it by a some aggrieved affiliate unions of the TUC over the decision of the next president.
This is even as the court in Lagos during the hearing on Tuesday has fixed August 4 for next hearing where all the stakeholders must be in attendance. The aggrieved affiliates have said that TUC must have run foul of court order and the action seen as contempt.
Announcing the results of the election, the returning officer, Shehu Mohammed, said that a total of 728 delegates participated in the election with Osifo pulling 688 votes to defeat his opponent, Oyikan Olasanoye (who was not present at the event as her union was part of the ten that sought injunction at the National Industrial Court (NIC)) had 18 votes. Twenty two votes were declared invalid.
Osifo who assumed office as President of PENGASSAN in August 28, 2020 had previously served amongst others, as PENGASSAN Producers Forum Chairman, between 2016 to 2018.
The Edo born unionist is a first class graduate of the University of Portsmouth. He’s also an alumnus of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI). He holds a Master degree in Petroleum Engineering from Herriot Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. The new TUC President is a member of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) and Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
