The Osun State Government has clarified that Governor Ademola Adeleke did not dissolve the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state, reaffirming that the executive led by Comrade Wakeel Alowonle remains the only recognised leadership of the union.
The clarification was contained in a statement issued on Friday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Alimi, following what the government described as widespread misinterpretation of the outcome of the State Security Council meeting.
According to the government, the Security Council only suspended the activities of the NURTW in all motor parks across Osun State pending the restoration of peace and order, stressing that the directive did not affect the union’s leadership structure.
“The attention of the Osun State Government has been called to the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the outcome of the Security Council meeting yesterday wherein the state government suspended all activities of the NURTW in all the motor parks in Osun State because of the activities of some hoodlums,” the statement read.
The government alleged that a group led by Kazeen Oyewale, popularly known as Asiri Eniba, wrongly interpreted the suspension as the dissolution of the Alowonle-led executive and used the claim to justify the inauguration of a caretaker committee.
“At no time did the state government dissolve the executives of the NURTW at all levels. What the Security Council directive is all about is to suspend all activities of the union in all our parks pending the restoration of peace in all the parks,” the statement said.
The state government also reiterated that Governor Adeleke had directed that motor parks across the state should remain open despite the temporary suspension of union activities.
“The Governor stated yesterday that the parks are not closed and should not be closed,” Alimi said.
Reaffirming its position, the government maintained that the executive led by Comrade Wakeel Alowonle remains the legitimate leadership of the NURTW in Osun State.
“We need to reiterate that the Alowonle-led executives are the only recognised leadership of the Osun State NURTW both by the national leadership of the union and by the Osun State Government,” the statement added.
The government further directed security agencies to remove Asiri Eniba and his supporters from motor parks across the state, insisting that they have no legal authority to operate there.
“The Osun State Governor hereby directs all our security agents to flush out Asiri Eniba and his gang from all our motor parks without further delay as he has no legal basis to be there in all ramifications,” the statement stated.
It added that normal union activities would resume once security conditions in the parks improve.
“The government states that, as soon as the security of our parks improves, the NURTW led by Comrade Wakeel Alowonle will continue to operate normally in various parts of the state smoothly without hindrance.”
The clarification follows an earlier announcement by the state government suspending all NURTW activities in motor parks across Osun State as part of measures aimed at restoring peace, maintaining public order and strengthening security.
