Alhaji Moshood Ajao, a former deputy general secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leadership to stay out of the internal disputes of NURTW.
Alhaji Ajao urged for peace within the ranks of the union after learning that one of the six demands the NLC made of the federal government was the purported “siege” of the NURTW national offices at Garki 2, Abuja.
In a statement, the former deputy general secretary said that the union’s current administration had requested that police be present at the NURTW headquarters.
Alhaji Ajao argued that Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa’s term as NURTW’s National President came to an end on August 28, 2023, and he questioned why the NLC is objecting to the police officers who were present because they had been invited by the current President, Alhaji Tajudeen Badiru Agbede, to uphold law and order.Alhaji Ajao, who served as the union’s deputy general secretary after retiring after 35 years as a career official at various levels, stated that the developments at the national level of NURTW are in compliance with the union’s constitution.
He claimed that the current president, Alhaji Agbede, and the former president, Alhaji Baruwa, are both products of the south-western region.
The former Deputy General Secretary maintained that Alhaji Baruwa’s alleged high-handedness caused five out of the six states in the zone to halt the activities of NURTW, leaving only Ekiti state, adding that this caused an unprecedented setback for NURTW in the south west.
Ajao urged the NLC to remove the federal government’s subsidy removal from the list of labour demands, which included the removal of police from NURTW headquarters.