I don’t want to be remembered for my many fights — Obaseki

By Ishola Balogun

The Chairman of National Union of Road Transport Worker (NURTW), Lagos State Council, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo) Monday, said the immediate past National President, Tajudeen Baruwa’s overbearing actions without recourse to the union’s constitution were responsible for the crisis in the union.

MC Oluomo, in a statement Monday, said Baruwa created fracas in the Lagos state chapter of the union when he appointed another state chairman to handle the tricycle operators (Keke Marwa) thus having two chairmen in one state, which became a panacea for anarchy.

Akinsanya recalled that he was instrumental to the emergence of Baruwa as President of the union in 2019.

He said: “As Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter, I performed my duties diligently, fulfilling all my constitutional responsibilities and maintaining the hard-won peace in Lagos State. This role was admirably felt all over the Southwest and I was also elected as the Zonal Vice-Chairman of Zone 2. In all of these, I have conducted myself within the ambit of the law and constitution guiding our operations in NURTW.

“All went well until the illegal and unconstitutional interference in the affairs of the Lagos State Chapter, and by extension, the Southwest by Baruwa when he decided to appoint another state chairman to handle the tricycle operators (Keke Marwa) thus having two chairmen in one state, which became a panacea for anarchy. This appointment, which was strange to our constitution and a sinister move to destabilize our operations in Lagos State, led to outright panic.

The intervention of notable Lagosians and unionists did not go down well with Baruwa who only saw Lagos State as part of a grand design to annihilate the Southwest.

“When Baruwa went ahead to purportedly suspend me from the union, I had the option of staying put and allowing all we have achieved in terms of peace in Lagos State to go down or to activate a Plan B. I opted for the latter. As a strong believer in the Rule of Law, I caused a suit to be filed at the National Industrial Court challenging the various illegal conducts of Baruwa, I moved to the Lagos State Parks and Garages, and interestingly, the entire union members in Lagos State followed me as they believed in my leadership.”

“Baruwa disrupted union activities in the Southwest that Lagos Oyo, Ogun, Osun Ondo had no union at all and this has led to institution of court cases at the National Industrial Court, where the court granted an Order of Status Quo ante bellum as at April 12. The implication of that was that the South West Zone could not have held any zonal elections after April 12. This stalemate led to the inauguration of a Caretaker Committee headed by Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede and 24 other notable unionists across Nigeria.

“This Caretaker Committee, in order to move forward, has reached out to all members who were forced out by Baruwa and we have embraced peace and returned home.

“Let me state that the National Elders are not the first set of people to call for reconciliation. Various Governors in Southwest had done the same. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) under Comrade Ayuba Wabba as President and Alhaji Najeemdeen Yasin as the deputy president, also made efforts. We were invited three different times. While we wasted money on flights to and from Abuja, Baruwa did not honour any of the NLC invitations.

Akinsanya appealed to NLC leadership to allow the union to organise itself without undue interference or bias.

“The former president is still a member of our great union, and if he is still interested in seeking re-election, he should make recourse to the Zone 2 (Southwest) for nomination and adoption,” he said.