MC Oluomo’s union fires back at Adeleke: ‘No governor has power to suspend NURTW activities’

The national leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers has inaugurated a seven-man caretaker committee to manage Osun State’s parks and garages, directly challenging Governor Ademola Adeleke’s suspension of the union’s activities following violent clashes between rival factions across the state’s motor parks.

Abuja has spoken — and it is not backing down before Osogbo.

The national leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers inaugurated a seven-man caretaker committee on Friday to manage parks and garages in Osun State, in a direct challenge to Governor Ademola Adeleke’s suspension of the union’s activities. The committee, led by Kazeem Oyewale — popularly known as Asiri Eniba — was inaugurated at the union’s Garki headquarters in Abuja.

As reported by Daily Trust, the move came hours after NURTW President Musiliu Akinsanya, known as MC Oluomo, made clear the union’s position. Represented by Deputy President Aliyu Issa Ore, Akinsanya said no state governor has the authority to suspend the union’s operations. “Not any single state governor has power to suspend the activities of the union, because we are not under any state. There is an Act that established the NURTW,” Ore stated.

Governor Adeleke had suspended NURTW activities across Osun motor parks following violent clashes between rival factions — one loyal to Oyewale and the other to sitting Osun NURTW Chairman Nurudeen Alowonle. The Oyewale faction, accompanied by police officers, marched through Osogbo before confronting Alowonle’s group at Old Garage Motor Park, triggering the violence. The governor’s Commissioner for Information, Kolapo Alimi, subsequently ordered the suspension of levy collection and directed security agencies to arrest anyone parading as a union official in any park.

The national leadership cited the forthcoming Osun governorship election and an existing MoU with INEC as key reasons for urgency in installing a caretaker leadership. “We have MoU with INEC. In view of this, we have to inaugurate the caretaker members, who are to mount the leadership of the NURTW, pending the time we resolve all issues attached to Osun,” Ore said.

Oyewale now heads the committee as the authority standoff between the union’s national body and the Osun State government continues.