A total of 198 branch Chairmen across Lagos motor parks and garages have signed petition against the embattled chairman of the Lagos State branch of the National Union of Road and Transport Workers (NURTW), Musiliu Akinsanya (a.k.a MC Oluomo).
MC Oluomo, who served as the state chairman for the past four years, is facing opposition from stakeholders who claim his leadership did not align with the union’s interests.
At a stakeholders meeting, members demanded a change of guard in the union’s leadership. Lagos Island branch chairman, Mustapha Sego (a.k.a. Sego) was unanimously chosen to replace Akinsanya.
The meeting which was devoid of rancour or acrimony was reportedly pleasing to MC Oluomo who publicly supported Sego’s choice as his successor and thereafter announced his intention to vie for the National President position of the union.
The embattled union boss had pleaded with stakeholders to give him a month grace to sort out himself before inaugurating a new state executive committee members.
However, two months after, Oluomo is still holding on to power much to the chagrin of stakeholders across the state. His reluctance to step down as chairman of Lagos NURTW two month after promising to do so is causing uproar in major parks and garages across the state.
Despite Oluomo’s repeated assurance to hand over to Sego, the actions and utterances of his prodigies run contrary.
The development has therefore engender fear of possible breakdown of law and order in the state as stakeholders and members look poise to overthrow MC Oluomo at all cost.
Pointer to this emerged over the weekend when 198 out of the 205 branch chairmen across the state signed a petition denouncing Oluomo’s continued leadership of the union. The petition alongside the signatures of the branch chairmen was addressed to the Gov. Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu through his Special Adviser on Transportation, Hon Shakirudeen Giwa.
Interestingly, the battle for the soul of the union has, however, shifted to the social media with influential members expressing their anger over the ugly trend which the leadership crisis has turned into.
In a video message which has since gone viral, Alhaji Murtala Lawal (a.k.a. Muri Pepper) warned about the impending crisis which may engulf the union following Oluomo’s delay in handing over the affairs of the union to the new chairman, Mustapha Adekunle.
“Oluomo’s tenure had expired since August 2023. Ogun and Ondo states who started their own struggle much after that of Lagos, they have inaugurated committees. Why is Lagos own different.
“We are pleading with Gov. Sanwoolu to intervene in this matter before it gets out of hand. We don’t want violence in Lagos but MC Oluomo is courting violence and we think he should be stopped,” says Muri Pepper.
In yet another video, an influential member of the union, Shamsideen Oladiti described Oluomo as ‘Mr. Goliath who does not want peace in Lagos.’
According to Oladiti, the embattled chairman is not trustworthy. “We do not pray for violence in Lagos but Oluomo is not consistent. He says something but goes ahead to do exactly the opposite. We had looked forward to one month grace period for him to handover to a new chairman but he has refused to do so and our members are not happy over this. He should go. Is MC Oluomo bigger than the union or the state governor? Oladiti asked.
On his own part, Abayomi Olusegun (a.k.a. Yomi Poly) representing the younger element of the union, pleaded with Gov. Sanwoolu to intervene in the leadership crisis before it snowball into an orgy of violence in the state, noting that majority of union members cannot wait to see the end of Oluomo’s draconian regime.
However, findings revealed it would take more than a petition to ease out Oluomo. Contrary to members demand for Gov. Sanwoolu’s intervention, an influential member of the union who does not want his name in print because of the sensitivity of the matter said it would be difficult to remove Oluomo now.
“He is back in the NURTW even though he came in through the back door. It would be difficult to remove him now unless there is a disagreement between rival factions. Then, the state government can step in to avert crisis,” our source confided.
He further informed that there is a subsisting injunction against rival factions to maintain status-quo till the determination of the case on 11th March 2024 by the National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja.
