The election was scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
The appeal was made by the Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, at an expanded meeting with the state leadership of TUC, affiliate unions, and relevant government officials in Yenagoa.

Ewhrudjakpo urged the national leadership to work with stakeholders to ensure a free, fair, and credible election of a new executive body to run the affairs of the labour centre in the state.

Findings indicate that similar issues had affected elections in other states, including Lagos, Rivers, and Abuja.
An official with knowledge of the development said the problems stemmed from new election guidelines introduced after some states had already conducted their elections.

He explained that the current national leadership came to power with a total of 86 voting delegates, of which the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria had 25.

Following elections in some states, new guidelines increased the total delegates to 150, with PENGASSAN allotted 90 and the remaining 20 affiliate unions sharing 60 delegates.

The official said this led to legal disputes in Lagos, while in Abuja, the Association of Senior Civil Servants reportedly walked out of the election, and in Rivers, two factions emerged.

The source also noted that the TUC constitution stipulated that any union that had not paid its subscription for three months could not contest elections.

At the meeting, Ewhrudjakpo called on TUC President, Festus Osifo, to suspend the Bayelsa State chapter election and allow the government and stakeholders to address the issues.

“The TUC has to submit their constitution to the Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, and members of the committee to review.
“Secondly, the guidelines used for elections in Ekiti, Ogun, Kebbi, and other states must also be made available to the committee today (Tuesday).
“Thirdly, the first, second, and third guidelines allegedly issued for the Bayelsa election should also be made available.

“Finally, the Deputy Chief of Staff should call the National President of TUC to suspend the Bayelsa election because of what is happening in the state,” Ewhrudjakpo said.

He pleaded with the national leadership of the TUC to put the election forward until all issues had been sorted.
“We are not interested in who becomes your union chairman, but we are interested in seeing fairness, equity, justice, good conscience, and natural law, which are the basis of all humanity, being exhibited in your election,” he added.