The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Oyo State Branch, has described the proscription of the union by the Governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde, as an act of selfishness.
NURTW, was reacting to a recent comment credited to the Governor, where he was quoted saying that NURTW was banned owing to crises that have continued to characterise the union over leadership tussles.
Makinde said:"As a government that is committed to the wellbeing of the entire citizens of the state, I wish to emphasise that issues relating to security cannot be undermined".
The NURTW, in a statement signed by its Spokesperson and Chairman Caretaker Committee Mr Kayode Agbeyangi, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Ibadan on Friday, noted that the creation of Park Management System (PMS) in place of the NURTW is nothing but pure greed and selfishness on the part of the Governor.
"We recall that the Governor sometimes last year held a meeting with the National President of our union, Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa, in Ibadan, it was at that meeting which was held at the GoGovernment Secretariat, Ministry of Works with the inclusion of former Commissioner for Works and Public Transport, Professor Raphael Afonja, he told the president that he should ask all aggrieved members who were made up of six branches to come together that he was going to lift he ban placed on the union".“All the notable stakeholders and identified branches who had grievances against one another sheathed their swords and unanimously agreed to allow peace to reign”.
“It is firmly on record and we equally took joint photographs with joy and happy mood to accommodate all and sundry under an umbrella for the union to move forward in unity, love and togetherness”.
"But to our greatest surprise, the Governor ignored the report of the meeting and went ahead to create the Park Management System (PMS) which he used an alleged ex-convict, Mukaila Lamidi a.k.a Auxiliary as Chairman with a view to pleasing his aims".“We strongly believe that the Governor actually has an ulterior motive behind the creation of PMS as it is a known fact that there had been absolute peace among NURTW members across the state during and immediately after the tenure of late Governor Abiola Ajimobi”.
“The issue of chaos and lawlessness of May 29 which Governor keeps referring to, verified investigation and evidence had shown that Auxiliary had hands in those dastardly acts, as Police men and other security agents are living witnesses”.
“The Governor who premised his argument on the creation of PMS on the resolve of the government to generate revenue to the government purse, to the best of our understanding, they cannot till this moment come out to tell us how much the PMS has accrued to Internal Generated Revenue(IGR) of the pacesetter state,the monies are just being shared”.
“Also, we want to use this medium to challenge the Governor to come out and tell the whole world why he is so much interested in Auxiliary who is known as an alleged gun runner as well as a public tormentor”, Agbeyangi concluded.
