Protesters on Monday brought parts of Kaduna to a standstill as they marched in solidarity with the Dangote Refinery, accusing a well-connected oil importation cartel and elements within the labour movement of trying to frustrate the country’s nascent local refining drive.
The protest, themed “National Unity Against Sabotage: Reclaiming Our Petroleum Sector for the People,” called for urgent government action to protect the multi-billion-dollar Dangote Refinery from “systematic attacks” by elements of the oil importation cartel.
Marching under the banner of Partners for National Economic Progress, the demonstrators gathered at Murtala Mohammed Square before winding through Alkali Road, Ali Akilu Road, Ahmadu Bello Way and Muhammadu Buhari Way, brandishing placards with messages such as “Protect Local Refining,” “End Fuel Import Cartel” and “Support Dangote Refinery.”
One of the movement’s leaders, Igwe Ude-Umanta, told the crowd that the Kaduna demonstration formed part of a nationwide campaign that began in Abuja on October 2.
Protesters in Kaduna on Monday. Photo Godwin Isenyo
Ude-Umanta described the rallies as a “national liberation effort” aimed at saving Nigeria’s economy from forces he said were determined to keep the country dependent on imported fuel.
“This struggle is against the cartel that destroyed our public refineries, killed the textile industry, and now wants to strangle the Dangote Refinery. We will not let them succeed. The days of holding Nigeria hostage are over,” Ude-Umanta declared to thunderous applause.
Ude-Umanta drew an explicit historical parallel with Kaduna’s once-thriving textile industry, saying the same pattern of sabotage that gutted that sector was being replayed in the petroleum industry.
“Kaduna used to be a textile hub before the same pattern of sabotage destroyed it. Today, they want to replicate that in our petroleum sector by frustrating local refining. We will resist them,” he said.
PANEP leader accused the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria of complicity, describing recent union actions as tantamount to “economic terrorism.”
PANEP urged either an outright halt to fuel importation or the imposition of heavy tariffs to protect domestic refining and related industries.
“Countries that place tariffs are not stupid; they are protecting their economies,” Ude-Umanta said, adding that importers were frightened by the prospect of local refining exposing price manipulation and corrupt practices.
Dahiru Maishanu, who also addressed the rally, said the union’s conduct had gone beyond legitimate labour protest and was instead assisting the importers’ agenda.
“What PENGASSAN did was not unionism, it was sabotage. The Federal Government should have arrested their leadership to serve as a deterrent. We cannot allow people to hide under labour unions to commit crimes against our economy,” Maishanu said.
Protesters in Kaduna on Monday. Photo Godwin Isenyo
The protesters demanded urgent intervention from President Bola Tinubu, who also holds the portfolio of Minister of Petroleum Resources, to ensure that local refineries, notably the Dangote Refinery, are supplied with crude oil on terms equal to those offered to foreign refiners.
“President Tinubu must stamp his feet,” the group said in a statement read at the rally.
“Local refineries must receive crude at the same price offered to foreign refiners. That is key to sustaining the refinery and boosting investor confidence,” he said.
Maishanu also accused the cartel of actively blocking the sale of locally produced Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Aviation Turbine Kerosene, insisting those actions were intended to keep prices artificially high and preserve monopoly profits.
“They are punishing Nigerians to protect their greed. How can importers compete with producers? They are scared because local refining will expose their fraud and end their control over pricing,” Maishanu said.
The demonstrators praised the Dangote Refinery for what they called its early impact on prices of Premium Motor Spirit and diesel, saying ordinary Nigerians were already “breathing fresh air” because of local refining.
They warned that if the refinery were undermined, the consequences would be severe for investor confidence and the wider economy.
“This movement is about economic salvation. If we allow them to kill Dangote Refinery, no investor will ever risk bringing money into this country again. We must protect this refinery as our own,” Maishanu said.
PANEP added the Kaduna leg with a renewed call on the Federal Government to “crush every enemy of Nigeria’s economic progress,” urging swift policy and enforcement actions that would protect local refining capacity and punish those found to be undermining it.
The September 29 meeting between the PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery management over the ongoing industrial dispute ended in a deadlock after stretching from 4 p.m. into the early hours of Tuesday.
Following the stalemate, the Minister of Labour, Muhammad Dingyadi, announced that negotiations would resume at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The follow-up session eventually began at about 3:50 p.m. at the Office of the National Security Adviser and lasted into the early hours of Wednesday, when a breakthrough was finally reached.
The dispute arose from allegations by PENGASSAN that the refinery engaged in mass transfers and sackings of union members, while replacing some Nigerian workers with foreign nationals, accusations the company repeatedly denied.
The federal government waded in to forestall further disruption, citing the dispute’s potential impact on the economy and national energy security.
The Oyo State Fire Services Agency has recovered three bodies and rescued five persons after a commercial bus plunged into the Ariyo River along Amunloko Road in Ona-Ara Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday.
The incident was confirmed in a statement issued on Thursday in Ibadan, the state capital, by the Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Fire Services and Chairman of the agency, Moroof Akinwande.
Akinwande said the agency received a distress call at about 3:38 pm through a resident, Fadeke Yusuf, reporting that a vehicle had fallen into the river in the area.
According to him, firefighters were immediately deployed to the scene to carry out rescue operations.
He explained that upon arrival, the rescue team discovered that a Suzuki commercial bus with number plate OSUN LEW 484 XA, carrying eight passengers, had lost control and plunged into the river.
Five occupants were rescued alive and rushed to Ona-Ara Private Hospital in the Jegede area for treatment, while three others were recovered dead.
The remains of the deceased were handed over to a team of policemen from the Ogbere Divisional Headquarters led by ASP Aishat Ibrahim.
Akinwande attributed the accident to reckless driving.
He added that officials of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority from the Ona-Ara Division and the Chairman of Ona-Ara Local Government, Glorious Temitope, were present during the rescue operation.
The fire service boss urged motorists to drive with caution and adhere strictly to road safety rules to prevent avoidable accidents.
UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has warned that violence against women and girls continues to be fuelled by war, militarisation and entrenched inequality, urging governments to move beyond condemnation and take decisive action.
Speaking at a high-level meeting marking five years of the UN Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, she said conflicts around the world are exposing women and girls to severe and lasting harm.
The UN deputy chief spoke on the sidelines of the ongoing 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday.
CSW is the United Nations’ principal global body dedicated to promoting gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women.
Established in 1946 by the UN Economic and Social Council, the Commission plays a central role in setting global standards on women’s rights and reviewing progress on gender equality
According to the UN, more than 4,500 cases of conflict-related sexual violence were verified in 2024, although the true number is likely far higher due to stigma, fear and collapsed reporting systems.
The deputy secretary-general pointed to alarming patterns in several crises. In Sudan, UN experts have reported widespread sexual violence and attacks on women human rights defenders.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a child has been reported raped every half hour, while in Haiti, sexual violence against children surged dramatically in recent years.
Mohammed stressed that women must be central to peace processes and political decision-making, warning that lasting peace cannot be achieved while women and girls remain excluded and unprotected.
In a related development, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said he was appalled by the devastating impact on civilians of increasing drone attacks in Sudan, amid reports that more than 200 civilians have been killed by drones since March 4 alone, in the Kordofan region and White Nile state.
“It is deeply troubling that despite multiple reminders, warnings and appeals, parties to the conflict continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons with wide-area impacts in populated areas,” the High Commissioner said.
He renewed his call for both sides in the brutal civil conflict between rival militaries to fully abide by international law, “particularly the clear prohibition on directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects and infrastructure, and against any form of indiscriminate attacks.”
In West Kordofan, at least 152 civilians have reportedly been killed by Sudanese army drone strikes, including at least 50 when a market and a hospital were hit.
Attacks on two separate markets in Abu Zabad and Wad Banda on March 7 left at least 40 civilians dead, and a lorry carrying civilians was struck allegedly by a SAF drone on 10 March, reportedly killing at least 50 civilians.
In South Kordofan, at least 39 civilians were reportedly killed, including 14 in the state capital Dilling, in heavy artillery shelling by the Rapid Support Forces and allied SPLM-North between 4 and 5 March.
Many homes, schools, markets and health facilities were damaged or destroyed in the attacks, compounding the impacts on civilians and local communities.
The High Commissioner also expressed alarm at the recent expansion of the conflict to White Nile state, which has come under heavy attack by RSF militia drone strikes since 4 March. A secondary school and a health clinic in Shukeiri village were hit on 11 March, reportedly killing at least 17 civilians, one of them a health worker.
“It will soon be three full years since the senseless conflict in Sudan began, devastating millions of lives and livelihoods. Yet the violence, fueled by these new technologies of war, simply keeps spreading,” Türk said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which opens on Monday, will end on March 19.
Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organisations from all regions of the world, including Nigeria, are attending the session.
The priority theme of the session will be ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers.
President Donald Trump said that he thinks new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father, the former supreme leader, was killed on the first day of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, is alive but “damaged.”
Khamenei has not been seen by Iranians since his selection on Sunday by a clerical assembly, and his first comments were read out by a television presenter on Thursday.
“I think he probably is (alive). I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”
His remarks were published by Fox News late on Thursday.
In Khamenei’s first comments, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and called on neighboring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.
The US and Israel began attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
Iran has responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with US bases.
As the war approached the two-week mark, having killed thousands and shaken financial markets, the leaders of Iran, Israel and the United States all voiced defiance and have vowed to fight on.
