NURTW President Confirmed.

 The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) leadership crisis has been resolved by the National Industrial Court in Abuja, which upheld Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa's legitimacy as the Union's duly elected president for a second term.

The Chairman Caretaker Committee, led by Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, was dismissed by the court.

Additionally, the court's Justice Otebola Oyewumi forbade Comrade Najeem Usman Yasin, the former president of the union and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, from meddling in the day-to-day operations of the organization.

According to the court, Yasin is only permitted to serve as the transport union's board chairman.

Judge Oyewumi upheld Baruwa's victory in the contentious election, ruling that the 24 May 2023 Zonal Delegates Conference, which took place among the union's six zonal councils and saw Baruwa win a second term as president, was legitimate.

Further, the court upheld the validity of the Quadrennial National Delegate Conference, which was launched and opened by the President and other national authorities on August 23, 2023, at Ta'aL Hotels Lafia in Nasarawa State.

The national delegates conference that took place on October 25, 2023, where the National Administrative Council and Alhaji Isa Ore, the purported Acting President of the union, were supposed to have emerged, was further deemed by Justice Oyewumi to be unlawful, null, void, and unconstitutional.

The "doctrine of necessity," which resulted in the formation of the so-called Caretaker Committee, could not have been justified, she concluded, as there was no indication of a crisis within the union.

Remember that, on August 28, 2023, the Lagos State Park Management Committee, led by Musiliu Akinsanya, also referred to as MC Oluomo, forcibly seized control of the union's secretariat at Garki 2 in Abuja following a violent attack on the national officers and staff, despite the presence of armed security agents stationed to guard the area.

Along with four other union national officers, Baruwa was taken into custody by the police on September 13, 2023, and held at the former Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) Abuja Facility.

Due to the circumstances, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had to give the police a 48-hour ultimatum to leave the union secretariat.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, signed a communiqué in which the union threatened to mobilize all of its affiliates for a showdown to defend the NURTW leadership, citing lawful elections.

The Nigeria Police, according to the NLC, has usurped the authority to arbitrate disputes in defiance of the requirements of statutes governing industrial relations and has been meddling in the internal affairs of NURTW and other unions.

It claimed that in order to remove the elected leadership and install a proxy, the Inspector General of Police consented to an invasion of the NURTW national secretariat.

The labour union then declared that the Baruwa-led leadership was legitimate and issued a warning that any attempt to overthrow the transport union's governance could result in violence.