Having conquered the streets of Lagos and stayed in power with the help of the Lagos political cabal, transport kingpins have now set their sights on taking over the National Union of Road Transport Workers.
It all started when policemen and officials of the secret police stormed the Abuja headquarters of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on 11 August, arresting the national president of the NURTW, Tajudeen Baruwa, and three other members of the union for an undisclosed reason.
While the leaders of the NURTW were in detention, a new faction emerged, announcing itself as an interim leadership, explaining that the move had become necessary because the tenure of the current leadership had elapsed.
One of the first moves by this new faction led by Tajudeen Agbede was to lift the suspension of Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo, the transport kingpin in Lagos who has close ties to President Bola Tinubu and was also a member of his campaign.
MC Oluomo, who was chairman of the Lagos branch thanks to Tinubu’s influence, had been suspended by the national leadership of the union in Abuja for insubordination and was barred from collecting levies from commercial bus drivers and motorcyclists.
However, rather than obey the order, MC Oluomo publicly called on the Lagos State Government to suspend all the activities of the NURTW in the state to prevent a breakdown of law and order, to which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu obliged.
The state government then set up a new body known as the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management Committee and named MC Oluomo as its chairman. The NURTW leadership in Lagos State then completely collapsed into this new body, giving MC Oluomo more powers as he was now collecting levies running into millions monthly on behalf of the state government.
Payback time
MC Oluomo proved a valuable asset to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and was able to mobilise members to vote for the APC. Although President Bola Tinubu lost the presidential election in Lagos, MC Oluomo was able to regroup and played no small part in ensuring the APC retained the governorship seat in Lagos.
“If you don’t want to vote for us on the day of the election, stay at home,” he said on the eve of the governorship election but later recanted, claiming he was joking.
However, the unprecedented violence that marred the election itself put him in the spotlight once more as he was accused of using thugs to attack voters in opposition strongholds.
With Tinubu as president and with full control of all organs of state, the new NURTW faction with MC Oluomo as one of its leaders now has the full support of the police and all other security agencies, says the National Labour Congress (NLC), the parent body of the NURTW.
Although Tinubu has refused to respond to these allegations, the police have dismissed them, insisting they were only doing their job. The police, however, released Baruwa and cautioned him against returning to the headquarters of the union while a court is expected to rule on Baruwa’s legitimacy in the coming weeks.
Shootout in Abuja
But the tension between the two factions of the NURTW reached a climax on 12 September when the Baruwa-led faction of the union said it had received reports the Agbede faction had taken over the national secretariat in Abuja and was being protected by the police.
Members loyal to Baruwa stormed the headquarters in an attempt to chase out the Agbede loyalists. This led to a shootout and the death of one person. The police subsequently arrested Baruwa, and 21 others.
The police said they would be charged with criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide, public disturbance and conducts likely to cause breach of peace.
But the NLC – the country’s apex labour union – says the entire incident shows the government is siding with Agbede’s faction. The NLC, which is the parent body of the NURTW, said it would continue to recognise only Baruwa’s faction.
“In August, we raised alarm regarding the actions of the police targeting the legitimate leadership of the union, and the hidden motives behind wresting control for the benefit of a select few who invoked the name of President Tinubu.
“Despite our forewarnings, the police persisted in their unlawful intervention, providing cover for those imposing themselves on the union…It is disheartening that our concerns were not heeded,” the NLC said.
It called on the police to immediately release Baruwa even as it claimed members of the other faction are still walking free.
Mission accomplished?
With Baruwa and members of his faction now in detention, the coast is now clear for Agbede and MC Oluomo to assume full control of the national union.
There are fears that MC Oluomo and Agbede, who are both from Lagos and have pledged loyalty and support for Tinubu, could use their closeness to the president to extend their powers, effectively taking over the commercial transport sector in several states across Nigeria.
“The NURTW is usually backed up by the state or federal governments who use them during elections. The police are treading with care because they know that if they act against the faction that is connected to the presidency, they may have their fingers burnt,” says Jide Ojo, a political analyst and columnist.
In Lagos and other states in the southwest, the NURTW has built a reputation for violent extortion of money from commercial drivers.
A 2021 report by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting stated that these drivers pay an average of N225m ($523,255 at the time) each day, N6.75bn each month, and N82.125bn each year to transport hooligans in Lagos. Last year, commercial drivers in Lagos went on strike, alleging that they were no longer making profits because of the extortion.
Extortion
With MC Oluomo and Agbede now setting their sights on the national union, there are fears within Abuja that the extortion in Lagos could be extended to the nation’s capital and all other states, a development that usually comes with violence.
“The decades-long nightmare suffered by South-Westerners in the hands of transport union thugs and their political patrons has arrived in Abuja. Residents, the National Assembly, and other stakeholders should push back now to avoid the ‘agbero’ tyranny that South-Westerners endure,” said The PUNCH newspaper in a recent editorial while calling on the police and government agencies to stop taking sides.
Despite our forewarnings, the police persisted in their unlawful intervention, providing cover for those imposing themselves on the union…It is disheartening that our concerns were not heeded.
A spokesman for the president had yet to respond to the allegation as of press time.
But social commentator Deji Adeyanju tells The Africa Report that Tinubu’s victory at the presidential poll had emboldened transport kingpins and it would only be a matter of time before they take over the streets of Abuja and others.
“Tinubu backed MC Oluomo back in Lagos and there is no way he won’t back him this time around,” he says, adding, “This is the sort of impunity Nigeria will continue to witness under Tinubu’s rule.”
“A president that openly identifies with an ex-militant like Asari Dokubo will have no qualms supporting MC Oluomo and his faction,” adds Adeyanju.
But Ojo, a political analyst, says there is a need for Tinubu and the political leadership in the nation’s capital to meet and put an end to the violence.
“If there is a relationship the president supposedly has with the leaders of the other faction, it is important for dialogue to take place. There should also be respect for the rule of law. Let both factions wait for the outcome of the court process,” he says. (The Africa Report)
