The national leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers on Friday rejected the Osun State Government’s suspension of the union’s activities, insisting that Governor Ademola Adeleke lacks the constitutional powers to halt its operations.
The union also inaugurated a seven-member caretaker committee to oversee its affairs in Osun State pending the resolution of the leadership crisis rocking the state chapter.
However, the state government insisted that NURTW operations in the state remained suspended and said it would not recognise any caretaker committee.
The committee, chaired by a member of the All Progressives Congress, Kazeem Oyewale, against whom the state government has filed murder charges, was inaugurated at the union’s national headquarters in Garki, Abuja.
The development comes days after the state government suspended the activities of the NURTW in motor parks following a violent confrontation in Osogbo after Oyewale’s supporters staged a protest against the leadership of the state NURTW Chairman, Nurudeen Alowonle, an Adeleke supporter.
The protest later degenerated into clashes, with gunshots causing panic among residents.
Reacting to the suspension, the National President of the NURTW, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, said no state government had the authority to suspend the activities of the union.
Represented by the union’s Deputy National President, Aliyu Ore, Akinsanya said the union was established by law and had previously secured court victories against similar actions by state governments.
“It would be recalled that in the last few months in Osun State, we lacked leadership of our union. Despite calling and sending a series of letters to invite our leadership in Osun, which they failed to honour, we heard they are on the run.
“We could not leave the activities of the union without having leadership on the ground. Today, we heard that the state governor in Osun suspended the activities of our union, which they don’t have the power to do. Not any single state governor has the power to suspend the activities of the union because we are not under any state. There is an Act that established the NURTW,” Ore said.
He said the inauguration of the caretaker committee became necessary to ensure the union had a functional leadership in Osun, particularly ahead of the forthcoming governorship election.
According to him, the union has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Independent National Electoral Commission for the transportation of election materials.
In his acceptance speech, Oyewale promised to take the union to new heights, adding that under him there would be a turnaround in the administration of the union and that he would uphold the Constitution of the country and the union.
Meanwhile, the Osun State Government on Friday insisted that Alowonle and his executives across the local government areas in the state remain the substantive leadership of the NURTW.
The government also stated that Adeleke did not at any time dissolve the union leadership or remove any duly appointed officers of the union.
In a statement signed by the State Commissioner for Information and Public Engagement, Kolapo Alimi, the government said Alowonle and his executive were appointed by the national leadership of the NURTW under Akinsaya in line with the regulations and guidelines of the national union, submitting that “there is no vacuum in the leadership of the union.”
“The attention of the Osun state Government has been called to the misinterpretation/misrepresentation of outcome of the security council meeting yesterday wherein the state Government suspended all activities of the NURTW in all the motor parks in Osun state because of the activities of some hoodlums led by notorious hooligans.
“Today, the same set of hoodlums has been misinterpreting the directive of the security council to mean that the Governor has dissolved the Alowonle-led NURTW and that has created a vacuum for the inauguration of a caretaker committee to be led by Asiri Eniba.
“The state Government is using this medium to clarify that, at no time did the state government dissolved the executives of the NURTW at all levels. What the security council directive is all about is to suspend all activities of the union in all our parks pending the restoration of peace in all the parks.
“We need to reinstate that the Alowonle-led executives is the only recognized leadership of the Osun state NURTW both by the National leadership of the union and by the Osun state Government,” the statement read partly.
