BREAKING NEWS NURTW HOLDS EMERGENCY DELEGATE CONFERENCE, SWEARS IN COMRADE AGBEDE AS ACTING NATIONAL PRESIDENT, SATURDAY EDO, OTHERS TO SERVE AS MEMBERS

 

BY LEO EZEKIEL

The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has finally sworn in a caretaker Committee with Comrade Tajudeen Badiru Agbede as acting President while Alhaji Alliu Issa Ore as Deputy President and Comrade Saturday Edo and a host of others as members. This is coming after a protracted struggle between the immediate past President Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa and Agbede of who becomes the National President of the Union. The election which was slated to hold earlier on the 12 of August, 2023 at the Torrential  Delegate Conference had the past President, Baruwa and three other board of trustee members arrested by operatives of Department of State Services (DSS) over evading the union election process trying to impose the outgone President  on the Union. 

Reports had it that after Baruwa and his co-travelers were released on bail, they proceeded to hold another election and inauguration, but were re-arrested by the DSS for the second time in Abuja. It was also gathered that after spending one week in cell, they were eventually released with a directive never to hold any inauguration until further notice. As it was not enough, Baruwa and his co-horts travelled all the way to Nassarawa State to hold an alleged kangaroo inauguration outside the National Secretariat of NURTW in Abuja for fear of being arrested for the third time. 

However, The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Union officially dissolved the outgone  Executive  on the 28th of August at an emergency Torrential Delegate Conference held in Abuja citing expiration of tenure while they set up a Caretaker Committee inaugurating Allhaji Agbede as the President, Alhaji Aliyu Issa Ore as the Deputy President, Alhaji Alhassan Haruna Treasurer, Comrade Uwem James, Financial Secretary, Kayode Agbeyangi, Acting General Secretary, Alhaji Hakeem Adeosun, Member,Alhaji Ademola Adeoye, Member,Pastor A.D. Kalango, Member, Chief M. AriyoMember, Comrade Saturday Edo, Member, Chief Mathew Asogwa, Member, Ali Garba Musa, Member, Jerome Ukor, Member, Alhaji Yahaya Ibrahim, Member, others are Tukur Bichi, Member, Hajia Rabiat Abubakar, Member, Alhaji Usman Bagudu, Member, Alhaji Salisu Dan Aude, Alhaji Abdulazeezz Yawale, Member, Alhaji Yusuf Haruna Member, Alhaji Shaibu Bello, Member, Bala Ibrahim, Salleh Bakuru and Alhaji Musa Waziri as member respectively. 

Agbede who was announced as Acting President was Baruwa vice, but, contested for President with the aim of repositioning the Union which he alleged has been misdirected by Baruwa led Executives as they were issues of many State Chairmen who were supposed to have left office at the expiration of their tenure, but, chose to remain in office for decades rejecting every move for elections to hold in their States with the support of Alhaji Baruwa. These undemocratic elongation of tenure by some State Chairmen led to the desperation of Baruwa supporters to push for his continuous stay in office to further continue perpetrating acts that are detrimental to the sustenance of the Union Constitution. It was gathered that these State Chairmen who have stayed more than a decade in office, after the 10th Torrential Delegates Conference in Abuja was stalled by the arrest of Baruwa, the alleged supporters who needed the backing of the National President to still remain in office even after their tenure has expired moved down to Nassarawa State where the embattled Baruwa was reported to be reelected for a second tenure. 

But on Sunday, Agbede was appointed as the Acting National President of the Union in a delegate conference held in Abuja while Kayode Agbeyangi took over as the acting General Secretary. According to the acting General Secretary, the Constitution of the union, constituting the caretaker Committee was to avoid a vacuum in the leadership of the Union hence the Baruwa Executives have been dissolved. He said the Abuja Conference had representatives from all the States of the Federation in attendance unlike the one held last week in Nassarawa State. 

Agbede in his acceptance speech, said his emergence is a new beginning in the history of the union which would provide an opportunity to right the wrongs in the union. According to him, the last four years of Baruwa’s tenure has been a total waste of time in the history of the union with no developments. Baruwa could not be reached as at this press time as his telephone line was not connecting as at the time of publishing this report.