PENGASSAN vs Delegates: Court To Hear Suit, July 16

The National Industrial
Court sitting in Lagos has  fixed July 16, to hear a substantive suit against the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) over breach of rights.
Two members of the union in its Chevron Brand, Comrade John Nwanosike and Jonathan Omare respectively have taken the parent body of the union to court.
The two union members belonged to The Tide the union Chevron Brand, unit.
The Tide  reports that the plaintiffs had initially filed the suit before a Federal High Court in Lagos, but had to file a notice of discontinuance of the suit, following an objection raised by the defendants.
The defendants had challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to hear the suit, which they claim was labour related.
Consequently, the plaintiffs instituted a fresh suit before the NIC, by way of ex-parte application seeking similar reliefs.
In their affidavit, the plaintiffs averred that they were duly elected as delegates to the PENGASSAN conference, adding that their tenure was valid for a term of three years.
They averred that the defendants cancelled their names as delegates before the expiration of their tenure, thereby denying them the right to vote and be voted for at the conference.
The plaintiffs averred that in a bid to also prevent them from exercising their franchise, the second and third defendants set up a disciplinary committee to try them after they expressed fear that their rights were been trampled.
According to them, the panel declared them guilty even when there was no evidence against them as to the commission of any offence.
The plaintiffs, therefore, sought a declaration that the removal of their names as delegates to the Zonal conference and National Conference was unconstitutional.
They also sought an order, mandating the defendants to include their names as delegates and an order of perpetual injunction, restraining them from holding the conference until the illegality occasioned by their removal was redressed.