Why there is blood-letting in Ogun State motor parks - NURTW chairman

Alhaji Gidado HammanTHE Ogun State Council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) is enmeshed in leadership crisis. The state executive of the union is being alleged as the cause of the disagreement. But the President of the Union, Alhaji Gidado Hamman who spoke with Sunday Tribune in Lagos insisted that Comrade Ibikunle Baruwa remains the authentic chairman of the state council. Excerpts:

Can you give an insight into the genesis of the crisis rocking the Ogun State chapter of your union?
The Ogun State council of the NURTW is one of the most peaceful until recently when some people began to foment trouble. Before we conducted the state delegate’s conference in Ogun, there was no problem. The election was very peaceful, free and fair. But few months after the election, some people petitioned the National Assembly. I was very happy when I heard that the people sent their petition to the National Assembly. The National Assembly asked them to state their grievances. They complained that the state council conducted the election at the unit level instead of the branches to conduct the election. I didn’t know whether a decision was reached, but, we suggested that a committee should be put in place to look into their grievances and the National Assembly agreed. Based on this, we set up a five man committee headed by the Ondo State Chairman of the Union, Comrade Solomon Adejiyan to look into their complaints and other activities of Comrade Baruwa-led executives so that everything will be on record.Till now, the committee is yet to submit its report.

Was there any time frame for the committee to submit its report?
Yes, there was a time frame, but later they (committee members) came to inform us that there were a lot to be done. They demanded for extension of time and we gave them three weeks so that they could do a thorough job and submit a comprehensive report. The committee has two more weeks to go.

Are they aware of the extension of time?
They are very much aware. They have made presentations to the committee. You see, there is one area where I want people to understand. The NURTW is a trade union, we have a constitution, we have a code of conduct. If you don’t want Gidado as the president, we will not because of that remove him without following the due process as laid down in the constitution of our union. All the necessary procedures must be followed, not the wish of one or two people. If you have problems with the state council, the election of the state council is a delegate’s conference, five members from each branch will attend the delegate’s conference. The people who are qualified to attend the state delegate’s conference are the branch Chairman,Treasurer and three others. Those are the people who are qualified to attend. But in Ogun State, I was surprised that they brought thugs which vandalized the secretariat.

That was why we said the committee should investigate and called all the stakeholders to know the wayforward The constitution says if a vote of no confidence is passed on a chairman, there must be total majority. Now, they say everybody is against the incumbent chairman,Comrade Ibikunle Baruwa but we want to know whether those who signed the vote of no confidence are the right people.

You can ask one thousand people to sign vote of no confidence on anybody but we must find out whether those people are qualified to sign it. We want to hear from the people that have signed . We want to hear from the horse’s mouth. We must confirm.

Again, you can’t say you don’t want me, you must give reasons. Those are things we want the committee to look into. I am very happy we are in a democracy and the present government believes in the rule of law and that is what we are trying to follow. In the case of Ogun, the constitution of our union will be followed to the letter.

We want the investigation to be thorough, we don’t want to make mistakes. Now, the report of the committee is yet to be out and the people are fighting. But I don’t think the clashes in Abeokuta was because of the union, because Baruwa lives in Ota and the fighting was in Abeokuta and Ogun State is not owned by Abeokuta alone but by all the local governments in Ogun State.

Again, these people have started introducing a new dimension into it, they are bringing cultism into it and I will never accept cultism in the union. If you want to practise cultism, please leave the union. One funny thing in the union is that some of the so-called leaders of the union especially in the South-West are not supposed to be leaders because they are not in the profession. Some of them just see the union as opportunity to make money and any chairman who uses thugs is not a leader. You try and investigate him and you will discover that he is not a professional driver.

From your findings, how many local branches are involved in the clashes?
To the best of my knowledge, I attended the state council meeting. On that day, I was not happy because many of the people in the hall were not officials of the union.When you call a state council meeting, those that are supposed to attend are the branch chairman, secretary and treasurer. But on that day, some of those who presented themselves as officials were thugs and hoodlums. They were threatening to burn down the state secretariat and I believe any driver who contributed money to build the state secretariat will not think of burning the secretariat. On that day, by mere looking at them, you will see that they are thugs hired to foment trouble. If you see the way they dressed on that day, you will see that they are homeless people.

You raised the issue of introduction of cultism to the union especially in the South West...
In my area, we don’t know anything about cultism and I believe every religion forbids cultism. I told them that whoever wants to practice cultism should leave the union. It is very simple.

What is your advice to your members in Ogun State?
My advice to them is that they should embrace peace and shun cultism. Again they must allow rule of law to prevail and they should follow the dictate of the union. If you have a problem and you report the problem and a committee is put in place to investigate the problems, I think that is the best thing one can do. Equally, I want to say, I have been in this organization for almost 28 years now, since Comrade Baruwa came in 1999, he has been able to change the fortunes of the union in Ogun State. He built a council secretariat, constructed an hotel, petrol station, state council bought vehicles and gave them to people on loan. He has brought progress to the union. I am calling on the members to educate themselves.