Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has ordered the Nigeria Police Force evacuate the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) secretariat the within 48 hours.
The Following the emergence of a caretaker committee led by Tajudeen Agbede, the crisis in NURTW had worsened on Sunday. The Tajudeen Baruwa-led executive was also dissolved, according to the committee, who gave the excuse of term limits.
Yesterday, after an urgent National Administrative Council (NAC) meeting, the NLC demanded that President Bola Tinubu respond to claims that he is complicit in the crisis that is roiling the transport union and clear his name.
The union threatened to rally all of its affiliates for a showdown in support of what it claimed was the legally elected NURTW leadership in a communiqué signed by NLC President Joe Ajaero and General Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja.
The Nigeria Police Force was accused of meddling in the internal affairs of NURTW and other unions, and it was claimed that the police had usurped the authority to arbitrate disputes in violation of the rules set forth in the laws governing industrial relations.
In order to overthrow the elected leadership and install a stooge, it was claimed that the Inspector General of Police consented to an invasion of the NURTW national secretariat.
It reaffirmed the legitimacy of the Baruwa-led administration and issued a foreboding that attempts to restructure the transport union’s governance might result in violence.
Additionally, NURTW alerted authorities to what it claimed was an illegal plot by some leaders of park management committees in South Western states to incite violence in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and attack the union’s national secretariat.
The union claimed that the would-be assailants intended to sneak up on FCT residents while pretending to stage a protest against the recently concluded national delegates’ conference, held in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
This information was provided by the group in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja and co-signed by Baruwa and General Secretary Anthony Asogwa Chukwudi.
According to the statement, thugs had already been brought in to perfect the scheme and invade the secretariat.
The planned protest, according to NURTW, is an attempt to confuse and stir up trouble by waging a campaign of slander against the union’s leadership.
The statement added that security agencies had already been informed and stated that NURTW would not support any acts of lawlessness by irate individuals.
