Osun: You can’t suspend NURTW, MC Oluomo tells Adeleke

By Luminous Jannamike

The National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, on Friday openly defied Governor Ademola Adeleke’s order suspending its activities in Osun State, insisting that no state governor has the power to shut down the operations of the nationally recognised transport union.

Read Also: Adeleke bans NURTW activities in Osun

What began as a violent struggle for the control of motor parks in Osogbo has now snowballed into a face-off between the Osun State Government and the national leadership of the union, with both sides asserting authority over the running of NURTW affairs in the state.

Speaking at the inauguration of a seven-member caretaker committee for Osun in Abuja, the union’s Deputy National President, Aliyu Issa Ore, who represented National President Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, said the national body could not leave the state chapter without recognised leadership, particularly with the governorship election approaching and the union expected to play its role under an existing Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Akinsanya said, “Today, we heard that the state governor in Osun suspended the activities of our union, which they don’t have that power. Not any single state governor has power to suspend the activities of the union, because we are not under any state. There is an Act that established the NURTW.

“I know in Oyo, recently, in Lagos, in so many states, they turned deaf ears to our pain. But that notwithstanding, the issue at stake is not that issue. What is paramount to us is to have our leadership on ground.”

“We could not leave the activities of the union without having the leader on the ground,” he said.

Explaining why the caretaker committee was inaugurated, Akinsanya pointed to the union’s responsibilities ahead of the governorship election.

“We have MoU with INEC. I was in INEC yesterday based on the directive of the president of our union. In view of this, we have to inaugurate the caretaker members, who are to mount the leadership of the NURTW pending the time we resolve all issues attached to Osun,” Ore said.

He then formally unveiled the new leadership.

“It is my singular honour to tell you and inform you that these are the leadership that will be leading our union activities in Osun. First, the chairman is Alhaji Kazeem Oyewale,” Ore announced.

The Osun State Government had earlier ordered the immediate suspension of all NURTW activities in motor parks across the state following violent clashes between rival factions that heightened security concerns in Osogbo.

In a statement issued through the Commissioner for Information, Kolapo Alimi, the government also suspended the collection of levies in motor parks and directed security agencies to arrest anyone parading as an official or executive of the union.

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