Tajudeen Baruwa, President, National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, has accused Simone Lalong, the Minister of Labour and Employment of taking sides in the crisis that is currently rocking the union.
The allegation comes on the heels of a warning by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, to the Minister not to try to foist a leadership on the union. Doing so, the NLC said will undermine the agreement recently reached by the federal government and organized labour, the union said.
The NLC also warned the minister that it will not accept any parallel congress organized by another faction of NURTW led by Tajudeen Agbede to elect new leaders for the union.
Speaking over the issue, Baruwa stated that peace will be hard to achieve in the union if the Minister continues to take sides with the other faction.
He stated this in a statement released on Sunday, issued by the General Secretary of the union, Anthony Chukwudi.
For peace to return to the union, the NURTW President urged the minister to “retrace his steps and desist” and desist from his meddlesomeness in the affairs of the transport union.
Baruwa said the union has already held an election in August this year, to elect its new executive, as provided by law.
Part of the statement said: “The minister held a clandestine meeting with the Agbede-led group of the union on Wednesday 18th, 2023, in his office where he allegedly made a statement when he asked the group to organise a fresh National Quadrennial Delegates Conference in contravention of the provisions of the union’s constitution particularly Article 8 Section 2 (1).
“It is pertinent to state here that the above-quoted article provides that the quadrennial delegates conference of the union shall be held in August of every four years.
“Recall that the same constitution was approved by the Ministry of Labour and Employment by the extant labour laws.
“According to a reliable source who was also present at the meeting but pleaded anonymity the Minister unequivocally said the group should go ahead and conduct a quadrennial delegates conference and that they cannot because one person allows the union to die or disintegrate.
“We would like the general public to know that such a statement coming from a government official who is expected to be an unbiased umpire will further aggravate the problem of the union instead of solving it.
“Also, we are shocked to discover that Agbede’s led group is still operating unhindered at the national secretariat of the union despite the directive issued by the same minister in a letter dated 9th October 2023 that suspended all the operations of both groups including further conduct of any election.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the union had on May 24, 2023, held its special zonal delegates conference in the six geopolitical zones of the union while those who emerged were sworn in on August 23, 2023, during the 10th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference at Ta’al Hotel in Lafia, Nasarawa State.”
The crisis in the union reached a boiling point recently after Baruwa was arrested and held in police custody for weeks.
The magazine learned that the intervention of the organized labour, the NLC and TUC led to his release because the two unions insisted in their negotiations with the federal government that Agbede’s release was one of the conditions to call off the planned nationwide strike over the removal of petrol subsidy.
Meanwhile, it was learned from reliable sources that some officials of the ruling APC and top government officials are doing everything to ensure that Agbede becomes the president of the union.
Agbede, a former Lagos NURTW chairman is an associate of Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo, the current chairman of the union in the state, and a close ally of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
