The National Patriotic Front for Tinubu (NPFFT) has called for an independent review of the 2026 promotion exercise of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), alleging that no Cross River indigene was among the 106 staff promoted.

Director-General of the group, Castro Ezama, made the call yesterday at a world press conference in Calabar, saying the reported outcome required clarification from the commission.

According to him, Cross River indigenes were represented among staff considered for promotion across four management cadres, yet none reportedly made the final list.

The cadres, he said, covered promotions from Manager to Senior Manager, Senior Manager to Assistant Director, Assistant Director to Deputy Director and Deputy Director to Director.

Ezama said the group was not demanding preferential treatment based on state of origin, stressing that promotion should remain based on competence, performance, experience and approved assessment criteria.

He, however, said the alleged exclusion of Cross River indigenes, against the reported promotion of staff from other South-South states, raised questions about equal opportunity and the transparency of the exercise.

He claimed that not less than seven Cross River indigenes were due for promotion but none was successful, and urged NUPRC to make public the relevant records to clarify the outcome.

The group called on NUPRC to provide a state-by-state and cadre-by-cadre breakdown of eligible, assessed and successful officers, as well as the criteria, scores and moderation process used in the exercise.

NPFFT also urged the Federal Character Commission to examine the state-of-origin distribution of the promotions and determine whether applicable federal character requirements were observed.

The group further called on the relevant Senate committees overseeing petroleum resources to obtain the promotion records and exercise their oversight functions on the matter.

Ezama said affected officers should remain calm and pursue lawful administrative remedies, while urging the commission to correct any error, inconsistency or procedural failure established by a review.

He said the demand was not an attack on NUPRC but a call for facts and accountability, adding that if the reported figures were inaccurate, the commission should publish the correct position, and if the exercise was properly conducted, it should demonstrate this through verifiable records.