The National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, has firmly rejected the decision of Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke to suspend the union’s operations across the state, declaring that no governor has the constitutional power to take such action.
Governor Adeleke had on Thursday ordered the immediate suspension of all NURTW activities in motor parks throughout Osun State. The directive, announced by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, followed a meeting of the State Security Council chaired by the governor. Security agencies were also instructed to stop the collection of levies by the union and to arrest anyone parading as NURTW officials in the parks.
Reacting during a press conference at the NURTW national headquarters in Abuja on Friday, MC Oluomo (represented by Deputy National President Aliyu Issa Ore) insisted that the Osun State Government lacks the legal authority to suspend the activities of a nationally registered trade union.
“Today, we heard that the state governor in Osun suspended the activities of our union, which they don’t have the power to do,” he stated. “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.”
The national leadership noted that the union has previously secured court victories against similar actions by other state governments.
In response to the lingering leadership crisis that had left the Osun chapter without visible leadership, MC Oluomo announced the inauguration of a seven-member caretaker committee to oversee the union’s affairs in the state. The committee is chaired by Comrade Kazeem Oyewale, with Comrade Sunday Oludare as secretary and Comrade Lukman Ahmed as treasurer. Other members are Ismaila Abdurahim, Adebayo Tajudin, Tajudin Akin, and Ayinde Mutiu.
The caretaker committee will remain in charge pending the full resolution of the leadership dispute in the state chapter, especially ahead of the forthcoming Osun governorship election.