There appears to be no end in sight to the crisis bedevilling the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
The incumbent President, Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa, has instructed members of the union across 36 states of the federation, including FCT, to disregard the purported Zonal and National Delegates Conference scheduled for October 5th, 2023, and the Quadrennial Delegates Conference on October 25th, 2023, organised by the Alhaji Tajudeen Badru Agbede-led faction.
In a statement issued by the General Secretary of the union, Comrade Anthony Asogwa Chukwudi, the President described the proposed conference as illegal, unconstitutional, null and void, and urged the members of the union to stay away from the conference.
Baruwa reminded the group that there was no vacancy at the national headquarters of the union and therefore urged them to retrace their steps.
The statement read, “The attention of the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has been drawn to a purportedly illegal meeting held by an illegitimate and so-called National Caretaker Committee on September 26, 2023, wherein they purportedly passed a resolution to organise an illegal special zonal delegates conference on October 5, 2023, and a national quadrennial delegates conference on October 25, 2023.
The President is hereby calling on all genuine and well-meaning members and leaders of the union across 36 state councils and the FCT to stay clear of the purported zonal and national delegates conference because both the organisers of the conference and the conference are not recognised by the union’s constitution, as it is a clear violation of Article 9, Sections 13, 14, 15, and 16.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the constitution of the union provides that the election of the president and other national officers (members of the National Administrative Council) must take place three months before the expiration of tenure.
“The Constitution of the Union equally provides that the National Quadrennial Delegates Conference is to be held in the month of August, not October or any other month.
“In view of the above, the President hereby reiterates that the NURTW has held its Zonal Delegates Conference across the six zonal councils of the union on May 24, 2023, where the incumbent President, Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa, emerged as President for a second term in office.”
The statement added that the President and other national officers that emerged from various zones were duly inaugurated and sworn in on August 23, 2023, at Ta’aL Hotels Lafia Nasarawa State during the Quadrennial National Delegate Conference.
In a related development, Baruwa has described the statement credited to Mr Agbeyangi as a clear display of stark ignorance of the role of the Nigeria Labour Congress on matters affecting its affiliates.
“His call was not only misplaced but also a clear demonstration of a lack of knowledge of the workings of the trade union movement in Nigeria,” the statement added.
The statement urged the public and the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress to ignore the publication, noting that Kayode has no knowledge about the workings of the union and its operation.
“For the records, it is instructive to go down memory lane vis-à-vis the positive contributions of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the internal affairs of the National Union of Road Transport Workers over the years.
“In 1999, the former President of the Union, Alh. Najeem Usman Yasin, who is the brain behind the current impasse in the Union in his distinguished characteristic nature of trouble-fomenting, instigated serious crises before, during, and after the Union’s Quadrennial National Delegates Conference held in Enugu.
In fact, that conference would have been the bloodiest in the history of the Union, but for divine intervention.
“At the above conference, Alh. Yasin contested for the Presidency of the Union with the late Alh. Gidado Hamman and there was a tie after ballot counting.
The supplementary election was fixed for the next day, but lo and behold, Alh. Yasin refused to show up; hence, the late Gidado Hamman was declared the winner. Mr Yasin went and formed a parallel administration,” the statement added.
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