The President, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa, has resumed work at the union secretariat Abuja after the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) and the Court of Appeal affirmed his election.
Baruwa, a claimant to the NURTW seat, had kicked against the inauguration of Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo) as the new president of the union, as the NIC and the Court of Appeal prohibited interference in the operations of the Baruwa-led NURTW executives.
The NICN, in its ruling in suit No. NICN/ABJ/263/2023, Justice O.O. Oyewumi, affirmed Baruwa as duly elected President of the union.
Baruwa said he was resuming on the authority of two court judgments delivered in his favour, noting that it had been a protracted crisis, which stemmed from leadership tussle and leading to forceful takeover of the union’s national secretariat before degenerating into legal brawl between two factions of the union.
The national president stated this while addressing reporters in Abuja, saying the union wrote the police with copies of the judgments so that their faction could take back the NURTW secretariat as directed by the two courts.
According to him, “We are a law-abiding union whose only mission is to take back what belongs to us. Today, as you can see, we are taking over in a peaceful manner, it is not a forceful takeover, it is peaceful. Our coming here is to occupy the office after two years, even though the former executives refused to obey court orders. We have waited for two years for this day.
“Although the other faction matcheted one of our members, who is in the hospital, the situation is under control. We are still open for reconciliation as we are a lawful organisation and not troublemakers.’’
The General Secretary, Comrade Suleiman Abdulkadir Musa, said despite the appeals, the illegal occupants were adamant and refused to leave. “We have notified the police that on the order of the court, we are coming back to our office today and we are glad that the media are here to witness it, so that the world will know what is happening,” he added.
In the same vein, the appellate court in Abuja, also in a judgment delivered on November 8 on the appeal marked:CA/ABJ/CV/293/2024, with a certified true copy (CTC) confirmed Baruwa as the president of the NURTW.
The decision upholds an earlier judgment of the lower court, which was delivered on March 11, 2024, where Baruwa was recognised as the union’s president.
A three-member panel comprising Justices Hamma Akawu Barka, Nnamdi Dimgba, and Asmau Ojuolape Akanbi dismissed the appeal filed by Najeem Usman Yasin, Tajudeen Agbede, and others, ruling that the appeal lacked merit. It, therefore, upheld the industrial court’s decision, which validated Baruwa’s presidency.
