THE National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has cautioned the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to stop blackmailing the Police for detaining the former president of the union, Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa.
Acting General Secretary of the union, Comrade Kayode Agbeyangi blamed the NLC leadership for the union crisis.
Agbeyangi expressed disappointment with the leadership of NLC for blaming the Police who were trying to restore peace in the union.
He said: “When the NURTW crisis started about two years ago, the aggrieved members wrote letters to the NLC to intervene but they were ignored.
“Some of these aggrieved members were expelled by the Baruwa-led administration. Our people complained to NLC, but nothing was done. When the aggrieved could not get the attention of the NLC, they went to court to seek justice.
“The court adjourned hearing on the matter till October with an order that all the parties in the case should maintain the status quo, but Baruwa ignored the order and started organising a kangaroo delegate conference. We brought all these illegalities to the attention of the NLC, but they turned a deaf ear.
“I want to challenge the NLC to tell the whole world which body supervised the Baruwa’s so-called delegate conference. Is it proper to hold such an event in the dead of the night?
“It is unfortunate that the NLC has taken their support for Baruwa to another level that has blindfolded their sense of justice and fairness. They succeeded in ensuring that Police vacate the union environment Last week, Baruwa came out with threats and true to his threats, some hired thugs bombarded our Secretariat and in the process, a member was killed and some were wounded.
“And the Police after investigation invited some people and those suspected to be involved in the violence were detained with the possibility of charging them to court. Unfortunately, the NLC is condemning the Police for doing their jobs. The question is, does the NLC expect the Police to fold their arms and watch hoodlums disturbing the peace of the area?”
Agbeyangi said the majority of union members aligned with the current leadership of the union under Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede.
“l want to inform the NLC that our people in NURTW have moved past the Baruwa issue. What we are doing now is to organise a proper delegate conference that even the NLC will be proud of, and not a kangaroo one organised in the dead of the night,” he said.
Eighteen-Eleven Media