The court sacked the Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede-led Chairman Caretaker Committee.
A National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja on Monday affirmed Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa as the validly elected President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
The court sacked the Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede-led Chairman Caretaker Committee.
Justice Oyewumi also restrained forthwith the former President of the union, Comrade Najeem Usman Yasin, who was also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees from interfering in the day-to-day running of the affairs of the union.
She held that Najeem could act as chairman of the board.
The presiding judge, Justice O. O. Oyewumi gave the ruling in her judgement on the leadership crisis rocking the union.
The crisis followed the Zonal Delegates Conference held across the six zonal councils of the union on May 24, 2023, where Baruwa emerged as President for a second term.
The court held that Baruwa was validly elected for another term in office.
The court also validated the Quadrennial National Delegate Conference held on August 23rd 2023 at Ta'aL Hotels Lafia Nasarawa State where the President and other national officers emerged and inaugurated.
Oyewumi declared as illegal, null, void and unconstitutional the national delegates conference held on October 25, 2023, where the so-called Acting President, Alhaji Isa Ore and his National Administrative Council were said to have emerged.
She ruled that there was no evidence of a crisis in the union and therefore there was no basis for the invocation of ‘doctrine of necessity’ which led to the constitution of the so-called Caretaker Committee.
The Lagos State Park Management Committee led by Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo on August 28, 2023, forcefully took over the secretariat of the union located at Garki 2 after a violent attack on the national officers and staff members even though armed security agents had been deployed to provide security.
Baruwa was arrested on September 13, 2023, alongside four other national officers of the union by the police and detained at the former facility of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja
The situation forced the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to give the police 48 hours to vacate the secretariat of the union or face shutdown.
In a communiqué signed by NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, the union threatened to mobilise all its affiliates for a showdown in support of what they called ‘legally elected NURTW leadership’.
The NLC accused the Nigeria Police Force of interfering in the internal affairs of NURTW and other unions, saying the police have usurped powers of arbitration in disputes, contrary to the dictates of statutes governing industrial relations.
It alleged that the Inspector General of Police acquiesced to the invasion of the NURTW national secretariat to unseat the elected leadership and install a stooge.
It affirmed the legality of the Baruwa-led leadership, warning that moves to interfere in the affairs of the transport union could lead to violence.