Tajudeen Baruwa, the factional President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), has expressed his determination to prevent those representing themselves as the Lagos Park Management Committee from taking control of their mandate. In his plea to the acting Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Services, Baruwa requested their intervention in persuading the former President of the union, Najeem Usman, and the former National Vice President, Tajudeen Agbede, to vacate the National Secretariat.
Baruwa made this commitment during a press conference addressing the state of the union, titled “Coup d’etat in the NURTW,” held on Monday night in Abuja.
Reportedly, the Agbede group had been urged to vacate the national secretariat by state chairmen in the Federal Capital Territory and Nassarawa, asserting that the Baruwa faction is the legitimately elected executive.
Baruwa claimed that despite several efforts by the union’s leadership to resolve the impasse, none have been successful. These efforts included formal complaints to various authorities such as the Nigerian Police, DSS, Federal Ministry of Labour, Vice President’s Office, National Security Adviser, Ministry of Defense, and Nigeria Labour Congress.
Further commenting, he claimed that Mr. Yasin, the former president of the union, had allegedly met illegally with a select group of previous union officials who claimed to be members of the National Board of Trustees, blatantly violating Article 31a-e of the union’s constitution.
He noted “For further clarification, the election of the present national officers of the union otherwise known as National Administrative Council (NAC) members headed by me (Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa) being rejected by the former National President Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin and former National Vice President, Alh. Agbede and a few others from Lagos State were held concurrently on the 24th May 2023 during the last special zonal delegates conference held in six zonal councils of the union in line with Articles 13, 14, 15, and 16 of the union constitution respectively.
“Consequently, on 22nd August 2023, the 10th Quadrennial National Delegate Conference of the Union was conveyed at Ta’aL Hotels Lafia Nasarawa State where the newly elected National Officers (18) were formally inaugurated and sworn in.
“It will further interest you to know that Najeem Usman Yasin has summoned a meeting of all the state councils of the union here in Abuja on the 12th of September 2023 intending to cajole them to abandon the mandate duly given to me and my colleagues during the last special zonal delegates conference of the union held on 24th May 2023 and subsequent inauguration and swearing in on 22nd August 2023 at the last 10th Quadrennial National Delegate Conference.
He also noted that Mr. Najeem was a beneficiary of the same constitution who focused on assisting and encouraging the establishment of an unconstitutional caretaker committee led by Agbede.
He therefore reminded Mr. Najeem and his allies who were dissatisfied with the election’s processes and outcomes to follow the rules of a democratic society based on the rule of law and file a lawsuit, stressing that anything less would result in lawlessness.
He argued that no matter how highly regarded a group of people may be within the union, only a court with competent jurisdiction could nullify their mandate.
“We shall henceforth not hesitate to defend our mandate with the last drop of our blood,” Baruwa added.
